Big Fish, Small Fish

In the decade of social networking and on-demand living, some businesses may still be suffering, while others find new goals to achieve.

The proverb ‘big fish eats small fish‘ is becoming more relevant than ever. When large organizations go global, they unknowingly wipe out some local businesses in both, their home country and abroad.

Who is affected?

Everyone.

From your local farmer’s market, to that indie bookstore around the corner, or perhaps even your neighbor who is a freelancer, or your friend who is a full-time Youtuber.

Why are they affected?

When big businesses get bigger, they can easily meet economies of scale  – which means they can produce more for less, which in return translates to better profit margins with reduced prices.

What’s in the mind of an average consumer? Obviously, getting the better deal. Big companies have a quality standard they commit to and if the average consumer can get same (or higher) quality than the local produce at a lower (or same) price, they will take it.

Then what happens if that single average consumer was one of the twenty people who visits (for example) a local flower shop (a small startup)? The shop would see a drop in sales, but it would be slightly recoverable. But if more and more consumers shift, the shop would see a drastic decline in sales, while their expenses remain same (or increase), they are likely to close the shop sooner or later.

From experience, I saw two drastic changes around me, that made me write this post.

YouTube: I follow several Youtubers who make content full-time and all what they get is earnings from YouTube Monetization. Last month, they were pledging against the “New Monetization Rules“. I looked those up, and watched their videos where they explained how it would effect them. Basically, YouTube made Monetization only available to the ‘almost popular to very popular’ content creators, while everyone else is left to lick their dust.

Goodreads: This site is great for authors and readers alike, where they can converge and discuss books they like. Recently, as a newly turned author, I posted a giveaway for my book in January. While NetGalley is another great site for having your book available tp readers; but as their packages start from +$200, I decided to stick with Goodreads. Soon enough, Goodreads announced a change in their Giveaway policies. With the newly added price tag of giveaway packages starting from +$120, self-published authors like me and other small publishers, would think twice now to host giveaways.

In short.

Big Fish (companies) have money to make huge investments and also to recover lost sales or expenses. Small Fish (local startups, freelancers, etc.) have limited cash and a regular expense, and so they depend highly on those possibly limited sales.

How can you, a consumer, help?

All I can say is support local businesses whenever you can. Most times you might not like the quality or the price, but local businesses (artists, freelancers, authors, etc.) are willing to take one extra step for their local clients in the form of unique products, special customer service, or even discounts. Their earnings are often reinvested to provide better product/service, or used as their living expenses. In both cases, it provides an overall benefit to the local society.

🙂 FTK

Photo Credit: Visual Hunt.com