What is a business owners biggest competitor?

[baileyuph]

Please give this some thought, as you conduct business, what is your biggest competitor each day?  Key word here might be "biggest".

Kicking this discussion off:  For me, a small upholstery business owner that does any type upholstery, my biggest competitor is manufacturers.  Those who do things in large scale are tough to compete against. 

Is this true for most or is it the local shop(s) or?

Doyle

[Rich]

I'll have to think about that, but right off the top of my head, I've been saying for awhile now that if Walmart opens a reupholstery dept, I'm toast! (or at least a Walmart employee :o)
Rich

[sofadoc]

For me, it's the retail outlets that not only offer cheap furniture, but E-E-E-EZ financing.
It's no wonder that people sit their old stuff out by the curb, and just buy new.
They can get a whole roomfull of furniture for just the sales tax, and no payments for a year or more. Of course, by the time the first payment IS due, it's back to the curb.
I definately don't consider other upholstery shops to be my main competition. In fact, more shops creates more public awareness of the re-upholstery trade.
My second biggest concern would be all of the online discount fabric stores.
I lost a big fabric sale just last Friday because the customer found the same fabric online at just a little over MY wholesale cost.
In summation:
#1 EZ financing
#2 Cheap online fabric

[Saddleman]

Those who do things in large scale are tough to compete against.  

I agree and try to stay in a different market.  I do not see a way for a small shop to be able to compete doing mass produced kind of work in a one off shop.  I think staying at or near the custom side is the only way to survive and make any money.  As small shops we have the chance to make the purchasing experience and end item personal.  Nebraska Furniture nor their suppliers can offer that experience....can they???

I feel like I need to offer a greater value than a production item, which does not mean a lesser price.  For me I would like to be know for being expensive but worth every penny.

In summation:
#1 EZ financing
#2 Cheap online fabric

#1...is the customer that needs easy financing really the best customer to persue?
#2...I learned to quote job complete.  It helps keep the cheap fabric out of the equation.

Interesting topic let's hear some more.

[sofadoc]

#1...is the customer that needs easy financing really the best customer to persue?
#2...I learned to quote job complete.  It helps keep the cheap fabric out of the equation.

Good point, for sure. But I've found that in today's economy, even the upper middle class are looking for EZ credit.
Since customer-furnished fabric jobs account for 60% of my business, I'm not really in position to leave that out of the equation. I DO charge more labor when they bring their own material, but it's not enough to offset the profit I lose when they don't buy the fabric from me.
I think the point made about "culling your jobs" is a good one too.
But, in a small town, you have to be tactful about it. You don't want them telling everyone that you only do high profit jobs.

[Mike8560]

Luckily for boat the only thing premade is lousey fitting mooring cover a d cheap biminis
and junk seats

[gene]

I do not compete on price. I do not compete with other upholsterers. I do not compete with new cheap furniture.

I compete with new high end furniture: do they buy new, high end furniture, or do they reupholster their old high end furniture?

I compete against soft window treatment workshops on upholstered cornice boards and boxed cushions.

gene

[sofadoc]

The last "high end" furniture store in my town closed 3-4 years ago.
I had a great relationship with them for over 20 years. I did their custom jobs, as well as warranty jobs. But eventually, they could no longer compete with the cheap stores.
Now, when people in my town want to go "high end", they drive into Dallas to a Rooms To Go store (yup, that's about as "high end" as it gets around here).
But, I don't want to give the impression that I'm barely eking by, either.
I'm not a rich man by any means, but I can't really complain. I do ok, and for the most part, I do it re-covering low to mid-grade furniture.
I'd say, not counting antiques, it's about 40% low end, 40% mid-grade, 20% high end.

[baileyuph]

High end furniture are the retailers going broke everywhere, the less expensive furniture is still moving fairly well.  Furniture Brands, to stay in buiness, has down scaled and outsourced to cheaper countries to stay in business.

A quality sofa now, at retail, can easily start over $5000.  Times are changing, what is the head count for making those type of purchases? 

Doyle

[sofadoc]

I hear it all the time. "They just don't make good furniture anymore!"
My response is "Oh, they still make it. But it cost over $5000 for a good sofa now."
Last year, I was delivering a job to a house just down the street from ex-prez George Bush. He lives in an affluent section of Dallas known as Preston Hollow.
There was a Rooms To Go truck delivering to the house right next door to his.
On more than one occasion, I've told a customer that their sofa was inexpensive to begin with, and simply wasn't worth re-covering.
"What do you mean inexpensive? I paid $599 for it!"
   

[stitcher_guy]

ME!!!

I am my own biggest competitor, for my time and my energy. I have the shiny ball mentality, and can be easily distracted. I can clean my shop, reorganize, BS with customers, run errands, tinker and goof with the best of them. And I'm stepping over projects in the process. I don't have a computer in my shop because I'd live on it without accomplishing a thing. I'm guilty now of wandering over to the house to check Facebook and goof around.

You hit a plateau, where there is so much work and so many things needing done at once, that you try to avoid it all. I've been in that situation at varioud times over the years.

I'm not a babbling, incoherent useless lump. I get the work done when needed. But I am aware that I am not the best time manager in the world.

Lately, I've been getting help from a friend. He's hung around the shop for the last decade. Finally he is on board as an actual worker. I call him my little old lady, because he is fastidious, neat, and organized. He laughs at how I work, I complain that he is always cleaning up after me. We get along fine and meet in the middle.

Oh yeah, consumer suppliers that eliminate my opporutnity for markup, and competitors doing it for cheap.

[bobbin]

I agree that readily available, inexpensive goods from faraway lands present real competition.  But what I've tried to do is really sell the service and quality I can offer them.  When a customer says, "I could buy ready made curtains for less money" I readily agree with them.  And then I point out that what I will make for them will be exactly what they want and if it isn't "right" it wil be corrected until it is.  And it will be in their choice of fabric.  I don't try to "compete" on price.  I know what I have to make for the enterprise to be worthwhile to me and to try to beat off shore manufacturers would be an exercise in folly.  I tend to use the same tack with slipcovers, too. 

Alterations are a different story.  I long ago learned that "my" customer is not shopping at  low end stores, even if they are bargain hunters.  They'll go to TJMaxx, Target, Marshall's, etc., pore over the racks and buy a really expensive item at heavy discount.  But then they'll come to me to have the sleeves shortened, skirt or slacks hemmed, etc..  Several use me to restyle quality items whose style is dated by certain details.  I've always been willing to do repair work, too... so ready made curtains or drapery panels that are too long/short and need a tweak here and there  find their way to my shop, too. 

I laughed aloud at the "off the trail" comment, too.  It's really easy to get distracted and put things off... esp. when you work at home!

[Ihavenoname]

New furniture is not the the same niche as custom upholstery work.  If you believe you are competing with cheap Chinese made furniture you are competing and marketing to the wrong niche.  You are the custom high end high quality upholstery niche.

Case in point:
Timex and Rolex
Ugo and BMW
Truck stop coffee and Starbucks
Super 8 and Hilton
Kmart and Bloomingdale's


Don't confuse yourself with cheap junk based on price with quality tailored work.

Your biggest competitor is not a store or location or brand but the space you create in your customer mind.

If you are not getting what you want, you need to work on your ability to change the idea people have of you and your work.

Increase the value of what others see in what you do, and you increase your income.

If people aren't paying you for good or great work and what you put into it, it's your approach that is in the way not your competitor.

It's all about value