If I want to buy something cheap and small, a dollar store would be the first thing that would come to mind. I think that dollar stores have a strong brand postioning in that consumers remember the dollar store as a place to buy cheap goods.

Nowadays, it appears that more and more consumers, such as people from the middle class and even the upper class are leaning more towards buying products from the dollar stores. The low price of the products and the simplicity of the store format have attracted many customers to choose to shop at a dollar store instead. It has reached a point where stores such as Walmart and the Canadian Tires are viewing dollar stores like Dollarma as external threats to their companies.

However, as a consumer, I would not think of dollar stores as a major threat if I were big companies like Walmart simply because our target market is somewhat different. In terms of brand positioning, a dollar store would come as a place where I buy small items like hair bands. However, for all other items, I would go to Walmart. This is because Walmart is marketed more of a department store where I can get almost anything, but at a lower price. Dollar stores, although cheaper in price, are limited in variety of goods in comparison. Of course, I would not mind the competition among these stores as there would be more discounts coming along the way.

Images: http://www.saskatoonmarketmall.com/mall_directory/stores/specialty/images/dollar_store.jpg

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