Modern marketers have devoted incredible efforts to develop various strategies to gain market shares from their competitors. Whatever it is changing pricing strategy in the short-term, issuing new products or enter into foreign market, the ultimate goal may remain the same——to sell more products. Nevertheless, have you heard any company which wants to gain market shares by threatening its customers? If not, now it’s time to learn about it.
On 3rd Nov, the world 3rd largest Internet technology company( right after Microsoft and Google) Tecent QQ (00700.HK) has announced, as they put i,t a hard decision; they will block its own software QQ ( a IM software like MSN) if users have installed another anti-virus software called 360, a free anti-virus software based on cloud-technology with over 30,000,000 users world-wide, on their computer. In other words, users will have to uninstall the 360 and get a new anti-virus software if they want to use QQ. Actually, the two companies have been arguing with (or, in a way, fighting with) each other for 2 months, as 360 accused Tecent has illegally obtain private information of QQ users by secretly scanning their hard disks, in September. Tecent fought back, stating that 360 vilified QQ because it wanted to launch its own IM software. The quarrel lasted for the following 2 months and the hard decision, as Tecent put it , was just the result of the latest battle. However, this battle was very different from previous ones, because this time, not only 360 and Tecent are involved, tens of millions of users of both softwares suffered, and many of them have become casualties, as users are coerced to make their own “hard decision”. One “desperate” user twittered that the fight will not end unless Microsoft purchase the 2 companies, merging them into one company and name it ” 3Q” ( thank you).
Well, let’s temporarily put aside all the twisted truth of this absurd quarry between two IT giants and approach the issue from a pure marketing point of view. Despite their accusation of each other, two companies share the same ultimate goal——–to gain market shares by offering new products. For Tecent, the new product could be anti-virus software, while for 360, the new product is a new IM product. Wait, how to gain market shares? How about forcing my customer to uninstall competitor’s product?
There’s no way for me( and for most “normal people” ) to perceive how the CEO of Tecent actually came up with this crazy idea; nor could we know why the rest of boarder members agreed with it, but what I have learned from COMM 296 told me this would never work.
To begin with, threatening your customers undermine the value of the company. Customers feel bad when you threaten them and this bad feeling could last for a long time and finally grow into bad impression on the brand of the company. The above case goes with this argument. The stock price of Tecent QQ plunged by 3.1% , which constitutes a total loss of about 1,060 million HK dollars right after this announcement .
What’s more, this crazy act actually goes against its very goal, for threatening your customers may lead to decrease in market shares. The consumers feel bad, and when they feel bad, they will no longer purchase any product. According to Google trends, MSN installation became the most popular word after Tecent’s announcement, which proofed that customers are actually turning to other similar products.
Probably the most serious mistake Tecent has made in this case is that it failed to think from the users’ point of view, which prevails the modern marketing issues from the marketing mix to consumer behavior. If you are a user of QQ, would you be pleased when you open the software, eager to contact your friends, only to see a window popping out, telling you either to uninstall your anti-virus software right now or stop using QQ ? The normal answer is no. Therefore, what is the point in threatening your customers? It can do nothing but make things worse.
Want to taste it? You must huuuuury!