is your brand a market or a supermarket?

Dear you,

I recently bought packaged mixed vegetables from the supermarket. It cost about 2000 naira. I walked into the store, picked it up, added it to my cart, pushed it to the cashier, paid, and left. No questions. As we drove away from the store, I saw a mini-market and knew it would have been cheaper in the market. As we went by, I remembered days when I would walk into the market and buy carrots, green peas and green beans for about 1000 naira, and it would be way more than the packaged mixed vegetable that I was staring at. I would mostly haggle and negotiate with the seller, and if they didn't reduce the price, they would often gift me more produce [jara, as we call it in Lagos].

Anyway, I recognise that the difference between going to the supermarket and the market rests majorly on my budget, how I am feeling [do I feel like being stressed or not], my willingness to prioritise convenience, my preference for fresh or frozen foods, distance, my desire and willingness to negotiate, the type of produce I am looking to buy, and most importantly time. If I prioritise money over time, I would go to the market, but if I prioritise time over money, I would go to the supermarket.

On the days I choose to go to the supermarket, I dress accordingly, carry myself differently, and I know that I have less freedom to negotiate. I am expected to pay what is on the price tag. It is there for a reason. The best deals I can get are the deals they offer me [e.g. 2 for the price of 1]. However, if I went to the market, I would dress differently. My mindset and approach to accepting the price would be different. I have more liberty to haggle and create deals for myself based on quantity and quality. I could even tap into the power of familiarity and relationships to get what I want.

No one is better than the other. The only person who gets to determine which is best for them is the person shopping, in this case - me. I get to decide the best for me based on my goals and preference. While the two establishments may offer the same service [sell the same type of things], they are often approached differently by different target customers or the same customers with different behavioural patterns, often influenced by some factors I have mentioned earlier, because of how they have branded and presented themselves.

I am telling you about this because if you are a creator, business owner, freelancer, or someone offering a service or product in exchange for money, your customers may treat you as a supermarket or a market. They may accept your price tag as you have presented it, or they may haggle and get a better deal. However, customers often know the difference based on convenience, time, priorities, etc.

As I said, neither is wrong. It's all about the experience you want to offer, the price point you deliver, and the boundary you insist on. If you serve a low to mid-income target audience, they may prefer your brand to be a "market" and require a level of flexibility and access to deals. However, suppose you serve a mid to high-income [especially ultra-high-income] target audience. In that case, they may prefer "supermarket" brands that offer convenience, saves them time, and painstakingly organises aisles to make discoverability easier. If you are a supermarket brand, you will need to prioritise convenience, comfort, and experience, and they will be willing to pay. While if you are a "market" brand, you will need to prioritise affordability, accessibility, and flexibility.

With "market" brands, while more affordable, the magic is in the volume of sales and quantity in general. While with "supermarket" brands, while there's freedom to be more expensive, you must deliver on quality and experience. Remember, neither is better. Only you and your audience can decide that. They both work effectively and make brands a lot of money! You just have to be intentional.

This letter feels really simple, but it is a letter about pricing, your pricing strategy, and serving your target audience how they want to be served.

So as you think about it, who are you to your audience? Is your brand a supermarket or a market?

With Love,

Blessing Abeng