Businesses and companies use various strategies to attack their competitors, where the attacking company actively targets the defender company. It often happens when a company enters the market. Today, we’ll discuss the frontal attack strategy; its types, pros, and cons, and examples.
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What is Frontal Attack Strategy?
A frontal attack strategy is when a company directly targets the market leader/s. It’s a very risky and challenging strategy, because you’re attacking the already established company and plans to defeat them in the market. However, if you apply it correctly, then it would amplify your sales, customers’ market, and brand value.
The war tactics are the main source of inspiration for frontal attack strategy. It comprises of attacking the competitor from head to head in terms of promotion, place, price, product, and other elements. In order to launch a successful frontal attack, the attacking company must have three times more firepower capacity than the opponent. If a company wants to win through this strategy, then it should target the weak side of the opponent, especially if the opponent lacks the ability to respond.
Which Frontal Attack Strategy to Use
As they say, if you’re going to launch the frontal attack strategy, then you should have more firepower in your arsenal than the competitor company. It’s absolutely true if we talk about already established big companies in the market that have a plethora of capital at their disposal to move into the new geographical market. That’s why you should have more resources to go after the market leader.
The type of attacking strategy that you’re going to choose and implement depends on a number of factors like; competitors, resources at your disposal, capital that you’re willing to invest in, and the market you’re entering.
For instance, if your target competitor offers a wide range of products/services in a big market, then you can either launch a full or limited attack strategy. If your company doesn’t have sufficient resources, then it’s sensible not to go after the competitor firm with a full attack.
Before the purchase of Instagram by Facebook, Instagram was competing with Facebook only in the field of photo sharing.
Types of Frontal Attack Strategies
Some of the main types of frontal attacks strategies are as follows;
Pure Fontal Attack
A pure frontal attack is when a company matches its expertise with the competitor in various aspects like market positioning, marketing, features, and functions. If you conduct a swot analysis of your product and company, then you would find so many things in common like strengths and opportunities.
Limited Frontal Attack
A limited frontal attack is when you’re targeting one segment or a particular niche of your competitor in the market. The target area could be the customers’ type or the specific product, after choosing the particular niche, and then you have to match various aspects like positioning, marketing, and features with the competitor. It usually falls under the category of successful and easiest strategy, because your focus is on getting the expertise in one area of the product/service, and targeting the competitor.
Price Based Attack
Price based attack is when your focus on competing with the competitor in terms of price. Here you match all other attributes like quality, features, positioning, and marketing what the competitor is offering, but your focus is on targeting the price either lower or higher.
Research and Development Attack
Research and development frontal attack is when you invest a company’s resource on the development of the product/service against the competitor that you’re targeting. You do so by matching the creativity, innovation, or cost reduction in order to amplify the probability of success in the long term.
Advantages of Frontal Attack
Some of the main advantages of frontal attack strategy are as follows;
- Some market leaders respond slowly to the attacks by the new entrance
- It brings a plethora of opportunities
- The strength you’re focusing on would help you to win the competition
- If you successfully implement the strategy, then it would make the next market leader
Disadvantages of Frontal Attack
Some of the main disadvantages of the frontal attack strategy are as follows;
- It would badly impact your brand and the active competitor force you to retreat from the market
- It’s very costly to maintain your position in the market
- Some of the competitors have got a natural competitive edge over your attack
- It’s not easy to do everything correctly and make your attack successful
Developmental Tools for Frontal Attack Strategy
The interesting thing about frontal attack strategy is when you’re targeting a certain competitor, and the competitive brand would tell you the successfully proven approach that it had followed. If you want to get the right results from the attack strategy, then you have to conduct an in-depth market and competitor analysis. You have to make sure that you’ve thoroughly analyzed the operations of competitors, and become different in order to target the bigger market. Some of the main tools are as follows;
- SWOT Analysis: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats
- Four Corner Analysis: studying the behavior of the market, and finding a way to attack them
- Five Forces Model: competitive rivalry, supplier power, buying power, the threat of substation, and the threat of new entry
Examples of Frontal Attacks
Pepsi & Coca Cola
Both world’s leading soft drink companies have been at frontal attack with each other for the past many decades in terms of marketing and promotional campaigns, packaging, and price.
NIMRA & Unilever
Unilever is the world’s recognized multinational brand. NIMRA is a much younger brand, and it started targeting the entry-level washing powder market that Unilever has been neglecting for years. It allowed NIMRA to win the entry-level market share.
Rin & Tide
Rin and Tide both are detergent powder Indian brands. They offer almost the same product in terms of quality, price, and packing. However, they both are in a fierce advertisement competition and trying to trample over each other.
