“Poor firms ignore their competitors; average firms copy their competitors; winning firms lead their competitors.” ~ Philip Kotler

Your competitors are organizations offering similar services to you. They could also be offering products and services that could substitute for your product. This is why it is an illusion to think those who offer exactly the same services as your organization are the only competitors you have. Roberto Goizueta, former CEO of Coca-Cola famously stated that water, along with coffee, tea, and juice is a primary competitor to Coke.

He shifted the internal focus of the organization from market share to “share of the throat” of all daily fluid intake. When organizations have the above understanding, they will be more aggressive in their approach to keeping their customers.

In my marketing class, one of the examples I use to illustrate the activities of competitors is a scenario of a young man courting a lady and the lady is being approached by another man. The man approaching her will do everything he can to get the lady to his side. If the first man slacks, he loses the lady. The first man in this illustration is your organization, the lady is the customer while the second man is the competitor. You must never watch your customers being taken away from you. You must guard your customers and consumers jealously.

Your competitors are willing and ready to take your customers from you. They go after your customers by offering better products at lower cost and greater ease of service. They will do everything ethically possible to strip away your market share. If you don’t manage this battle very well, you will lose your customers to your competitors, and in some cases, you may never get them back.

When GTBank pioneered zero account opening in Nigeria, they attracted many customers towards them. The “737” USSD banking code made the bank synonymous with quick and convenient banking. Other banks were caught off guard. Customers migrated to GTBank because dialing *737# was easier to remember and the service was reliable. Other banks responded later. However, in recent times, Opay and Moniepoint have offered something that have led to a lot of customers migrating to them.

The telecommunications sector tells a similar story. When MTN and Econet arrived the Nigerian market, customers accepted whatever they offered. Customers were told that per second billing was impossible. Then Glo came in with per-second billing and aggressive pricing for data and calls. This saw a lot of customers moving to Glo. Afterwards, a lot changed with MTN taking the lead in the market. Customers are not loyal. They will always follow a competitor that offers what they infer to as best value. Understanding the ecosystem of your competitors and customers isn't academic. It is the difference between market leadership and irrelevance.
Your competitors are like your adversaries. Underestimating them is at your peril. They are not sleeping. They are analyzing your weaknesses, and are ready to poach your customers with sharper value propositions. This isn’t about dirty tricks. It is about superior execution and the warfare of marketing. Recall the Cola War in Nigeria which became more intense in 2016. The Nigerian CSD market was dominated by Coca-Cola and Pepsi. However, Big Cola announced its arrival in 2015. Bigi Cola followed in 2016. RC Cola followed in 2018. They all took advantage of the economic situation which wiped away consumer purchasing power. They offered more value to consumers at a lower cost. That made Coke and Pepsi lose a lot of market share to them. Today, more competitors such as Pop Cola and American Cola have entered the space and the battle continues
A similar scenario played out in the Nigerian brewing industry. Nigerian Breweries and Guinness dominated the industry until the arrival of SAB Miller which was eventually acquired by AB InBev. They penetrated the Nigerian market by acquiring majority stakes in existing breweries such as International Breweries (Ilesa) and Pabod Breweries (Port Harcourt). They went further to use the element of price and availability to court the customers of the market leaders and they succeeded. One of the critical lessons from the above is that your competitors are constantly segmenting your market and offering a better fit. If you are not innovating, you are conceding ground.

In 2026, the marketing counsel is to be strong on customer-centric innovation in order to stay ahead. If you fail to listen to the agitations of the customers, the competitors will pounce on them. As organizational leaders, we must be battle ready. There must be continuous investment in R&D, regular monitoring of competitor moves, adequate training of the sales teams, otherwise customer churn will skyrocket. Constant vigilance in the micro environment isn't just defensive, but also a pathway to building resilient customer relationships that drive long-term profitability.

Oluwole Dada is the General Manager at SecureID Limited, Africa’s largest smart card manufacturing plant in Lagos, Nigeria.