Here’s a playbook of the 5 competitive advantages most businesses use

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Sorry to break it to you, but odds are, the startup idea you’ve been brewing is not one in a million. If someone hasn’t already built your innovation in your industry, they’ve probably implemented it somewhere else. If not, someone is already thinking about doing it right now.

I don’t say this to discourage you. This is a good thing—it will help you “smash and grab” other models or parts of models to fast-track your own success.

The truth is that few companies revolutionize industries to the degree that completely changes the game—and that’s OK. A better use of your time is to focus on creating a product or service with a sustainable competitive advantage.

While new business models are being launched like never before, the basic principles of commerce haven’t changed for thousands of years; business is still largely a game of supply and demand. That means there are several examples of business models or “plays” that can be researched, studied, and replicated to take a new solution to market.

Here is a playbook of five of the main business model types and how you can replicate them to secure your own competitive advantage.

Product play

Product plays use a new or differentiated product or service to jump ahead of the competition. In this game, success is all about how your product is superior to or greater than the competition.

Product plays can be original, value-added, or re-packaged. Original product plays often stem from patents and new inventions. Think Tesla—its products are costly to develop, take the longest time to launch, and require the most technical know-how.

Other product plays don’t require you to reinvent the wheel but rather to take what already exists to a new level. For instance, the way Expedia allows you to book flights, hotels, and entire holidays through one website gave them a competitive advantage. And while Salesforce created groundbreaking CRM, their business has now morphed into an integrated ecosystem of SaaS products through acquisitions and partnerships, building something new using things that already exist.

Production play

Creating a winning business model around a production play focuses on the manufacturing or delivery process—the “how” of a product rather than the “what.” It often centers around creating better quality, more interesting, or cheaper products.

Good examples include Airbnb, whose supply is the spare space in people’s homes, and Shoes of Prey, which allows customers to design their own shoes by choosing the material, color, add-ons, heel type, and sole and sending these directly to the customer’s home.

In these instances, the emphasis is on finding cheaper or more streamlined ways to create and distribute.

Delivery play

A delivery play is anything that provides a superior customer service experience. Customers don’t want to jump through hoops to buy a product; they’re attracted to convenience.

Consider The Iconic, an Australian online retailer. It changed the game for online fashion retailing by offering a service where your clothes and accessories can be delivered under three hours for under US$10. Similarly, Netflix has a large bank of TV and video content that can be streamed on demand by the customer—what’s easier than a few clicks on your remote?

Price play 

Sales play