Direct-to-Consumer marketplaces are eating up established industries at an unprecedented rate.
Savvy entrepreneurs and using today’s technology to solve painpoints in nearly every corner of the market. From movie tickets and ride-services to moving companies and food delivery, consumers have more freedom and choice than ever before.
Generally, this is viewed as great news!
Except if you’re an established business with little to no interest in … you know, actually competing.
Recently, peer-to-peer moving company, Dolly, announced a recent fund raising series. The response? Established moving companies sued to block Dolly’s ability to operate in the state, saying the company did not possess the same licenses required by the larger moving companies.
Here’s the thing: Dolly isn’t a moving company. Just like Lyft and Uber are not taxis. Nor is Doordash a restaurant. And MoviePass isn’t a theater.
Ignoring the legal definition of these companies … or apps … or whatever business classification you want to assign them, big companies are missing the entire point of their success.
If a company like Dolly is growing (they claim about 100,000 users at the time of this publishing), they prove ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND people have a need that is not being filled by a traditional moving company.
Moving companies: If you don’t like what Dolly is doing, compete. Build an app or platform that makes it easy for customers to connect with truck owners, use your branding, use your license, offer storage (which you already have as a service) – use your existing power and business to fill the need exposed by these up-and-comers.
Don’t sit back and watch these companies eat your lunch and hope a lawsuit will scare them away.
The recording industry sued to make Napster go away, hundreds of alternatives popped up in its place. It forever changed how consumers accessed music.
If you’re the established record industry, taxi cab company, moving company, or brick and mortar corner store, evaluate how you would destroy yourself. What are the painpoints that – may be intentional, may be lucrative – are ripe for the picking in the eyes of an upstart?
Don’t rest. Those days are over.