Some companies find it easy to write off mature markets regarding new products. They essentially relegate them to either cash cow or harvest status.
How can you blame them? They keep investing and don’t see any return, so the easy thing to do is to tell yourself that it’s a “mature market.” One where new product or service innovation just won’t provide the returns other opportunities will.
Maybe that’s a mistake…
As reported by WSJ, 3M challenged this paradigm by bringing technologies from its new markets to solve problems in its mature abrasives business.
3M found that micro-replication technology from their reflective products allowed them to create abrasives with more uniform particle sizes. That maximized cutting efficiency and reduced wear due to heat damage.
For 3M customers, that meant even a more expensive abrasive could result in lower overall costs due to faster production, less abrasive used, and less downtime for replacement. This solved a significant headache in their customer’s finishing operations.
Smart strategy on 3M’s part. Very different from what happened in the consumer floor cleaning market where the market leaders considered the market mature only to see Swiffer transform it with new technology. Much more in line with the idea of constantly pushing into adjacent markets and technologies as outlined here.
Are you facing a mature market that might be ripe for a new approach?
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