Saturday, November 14, 2015

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery


Safeway is one of the largest American supermarket chains with revenue over $36 billion (2013) and 2,200 locations. Saveway, in the Pioneer Square neighborhood of Seattle, WA is not one of those many locations.

The Saveway Market, not to be mistaken with Safeway, has only one location and specializes in groceries, alcohol, fried food, and other random things you would expect at a 7-11. Saveway Market on Yelp comes in at 4.5 stars, beating out most Safeway stores.

In the US, at least business owners are sensible enough to modify the name slightly. In other countries, like the Dominican Republic, you can easily find several eager entrepreneurs establishing local branches of Walmart and Costco within a short distance of one another. The selection isn’t quite as big in the US, but the owners make up for it with personalized and attentive service.

A Punta Cana Costco
A collection of brand name stores along the beach
The sprawling Punta Cana Walmart

Apple encountered similar problems in China. With only 26 official Apple stores in China, you can find hundreds of Apple stores across all tiers of cities. Many employees believed they were working officially for Apple.

With success comes imitation. Maybe there will be other Unlimited Net Worth sites popping up soon enough?