One size fits all?

I have been trying to do a bit of online shopping recently in an attempt to spruce up my wardrobe somewhat as getting dressed in the morning is becoming a bit like Ground Hog day.  While I’m a real fan of being able to trawl so many high street names from the comfort of my sofa, while watching Strictly, I would really like to know what the clothes on offer look like on a, shall we say, fuller figure.

For anyone who is not au fait with on-line clothes shopping, the big high street brands present their clothing collections, each item displayed at its best on a beautiful model.  Now I’m sure that the size 6 waif like forms show off the clothes at their most beautiful, but that doesn’t tell me what they will do for me.  So I guess I am going to have to brave the hordes of shoppers and deal with the premature Christmas decorations festooning the shopping centres in order to avoid a mountain of returns of ill fitting clothes.

Unfortunately this doesn’t seem to be true just for the clothing sector.  In fact many businesses, particularly when starting up, attempt the broad brush approach hoping that by casting the net wide they will “catch” more customers – but is this a wise tactic or, by trying to please everybody, will they succeed in pleasing nobody?

Often, the most successful businesses, particularly small businesses, aim themselves at a niche market.   If there was a website selling size 12 clothes for 30 somethings I would be there hammering the credit card.  So maybe a better tactic is to tell your potential customers exactly what it is that you can do for them, in their circumstances – the more specific the better.  Because people are much more likely to buy a product that they feel was made for them than a “one size fits all” offering.

So look at what your business is good at, what are its strengths?  Then aim to trade on those strengths to offer a superior product to customers you can make a real difference to.  This is a much better approach than trying to cover over areas of weakness in order to offer a mediocre product with a wider appeal.  Because, with very few exceptions, one size does not fit all.