1.2.4 The competitive environment GapFill

Competition is when two or more businesses want to supply goods and services to the same customers and clients.  For example, when a customers walks down the high street and looks at the shops, if they are looking for jeans they have a number of shops they could buy them from; these shops are all competitive   matchesenemies alliesrivals for the customer’s shopping budget.  Some markets are more competitive than others.  For example, if customers want to go to a large  supermarket house warehouse factory  to do their weekly food shop, they could go to Morrisons, Asda, Sainbury’s, M&S, Waitrose, Lidl or Aldi. These businesses are all in competition with each other.  This is called an   oligopoly oatmeal obliterate octopus.  However, if you wanted to buy stamps for a letter, then there is only one option: the Post Office.  This is called a   marble master mean monopoly . Customers want a very competitive market because it means more choice and better products and services in that market.  If a business knows that you can easily go elsewhere – for example, from Asda to Morrisons – then it will have to be more competitive.  A business can compete in very competitive markets in many ways.  Firstly, it can make its   brand bite bang bail stand out; for example, customers may immediately think of Nike or Adidas when they want to buy trainers or joggers.  Secondly, a business could be very customer-   outwards orientated orchard outspoken .  Some companies such as First Direct Bank and Lush compete on attentive customer service.  The business could also compete by adding     vendor vacancy vital value , or differentiating its product and service above its rivals.  Some smaller businesses such as independent cafes, bars and restaurants may need to compete on   labour lucklocation linear ; being close to the customers can be very important in how well they can compete.   Some brands compete by having the best quality or the most eye-catching style.  Examples here would be supercars and expensive watches.