V.Competitive Analysis
This Section's Contents
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Direct & Indirect Competitors
The following two mushroom farms operate within a 100 mile radius of [Company Name]. These, and other smaller mushroom farms like them, are the direct competitors of the business.
Potter Farm
Potter Farm is a fourth-generation family-run mushroom farm which produces common and specialty mushrooms for national distributors. They operate a 1000 acre farm, producing a high volume of goods.
However, Potter Farm does not offer Maitake mushrooms, which are among the most desirable of the exotic mushrooms.
Reynolds Mushrooms
Reynolds Mushrooms is a small, ten-year old farm which produces a limited variety of edible mushrooms. They sell all of their products at farmer’s markets and directly to restaurants. This distribution strategy requires Reynolds Mushrooms to have skilled customer service and sales employees, as well as facilities for packaging.
Because Reynolds avoids selling through distributors, its brand has limited reach. In addition, they do not offer any exotic mushrooms. They also have a high cost structure because of their small scale and operations.
Competitive Advantage
[Company Name] enjoys several advantages over its competitors. These advantages include:
- Client-oriented service: [Company Name] will have a full-time sales manager to keep in contact with customers and answer their everyday questions. [Founder’s Name] realizes the importance of accessibility to customers and will instruct the sales manager to proactively solicit feedback from customers.
- Management: [Founder’s Name] has been extremely successful working in the farming business and will be able to use his previous experience to assure clients of the care that [Company Name] will take to cultivate the best mushrooms. His unique qualifications will serve customers in a much more sophisticated manner than [Company Name’s] competitors.
- Product Line: By offering common and exotic varieties, [Company Name] will seek to hedge against price volatility in any one of the varieties it grows.
