Business Cloning: A Billion Dollar Idea
“Nothing wrong with retouching - nothing new about retouching.” David Bailey.
Social media may highlight business similarity, but business cloning is not new. In fact, it might surprise you to learn how many businesses are successful from cloning another business’ concept.
Did you know… In 1907, two teenage entrepreneurs created what would become the world’s largest package delivery service, United Parcel Service, Inc. aka UPS. But, several years later, in 1965, a Yale undergraduate, Frederick W. Smith, writes a term paper outlining a system to accommodate urgent, time-sensitive shipments such as medicine, computer parts, and electronics. He receives an average grade. In 1971, Smith founds Federal Express Corp. in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Are both businesses winning? Let’s see, FedEx revenue is over $50 Billion and UPS over $60 Billion.
These aren’t the only billion dollar businesses that cloned concepts. In 2015, Amazon released the Echo, a personal home assistant. One year later, Google released its Home device — a personal home assistant that operates in the same way. In 2016, revenue for Google parent company Alphabet was $89.73 billion. Amazon’s 2016 revenue was $135.99 billion.
In case you need another example of billion dollar cloning, in 2012 Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion. Four years later it released its own version of Stories — the same feature that rival Snapchat had introduced, wherein photos and videos shared with friends are deleted after 24 hours.
In each of the instances listed, each company is making a lot of money.
What does that mean for you?
No one likes to feel like someone else is taking an idea or concept that they worked hard to create. However, very little is truly proprietary. Names and designs can have patents and provide a measure of protection, but most likely, there is a way to do exactly what your business does, or sell a product exactly like what you sell.
The takeaway is this. Focus on creating personalized exceptional experiences. Stand out with your customer service style and make sure in everything you do, you highlight the one thing that can’t be duplicated- YOU!
Years later, and billions of dollars later, people will patronize your business because they want the experience that only your company brings.
Would you like to learn more about how to have a successful business? Check out www.businesscrossingnetwork.com or email info@businesscrossingnetwork.com