Monopoly Products: Think Of Those Things That Has Been Around With No Rivals

I was just looking at my pack of St. Louis cube Sugar and i just thought of those things that has always been around for years with no similar competitive product, i can remember this cube sugar has been around as far back as 1980s while i was in primary school.

This product has enjoyed the Nigerian market for so long that we barely ask for another,  im not against it, im just saying. what is so special or what are they doing right that has made this product so acceptable to us, they have become a family name that you find it so difficult to ask for another brand.

other products too includes, indomie noodles before the other ones like chikki and dangote came into the market but still has not been able to compete well.
i might be wrong or maybe not exposed enough to see other options but i know there some products in this category you can remember, maybe before i was born tlll date,
okin biscuit was also around for so long for the average while Mc. Vites varieties was for the rich.

can you remember anyone?
those things you used to buy to boarding school  and so on,

st louis sugar, this one especially

i just remembered choco milo too

okin biscuits was around for so long too, and cabin is still on the shelves in supermarkets. what a wonder, no change in taste and yet we never get tired of buying these things

Indomie noodles does not operate under a monopoly market structure, but an oligopoly; so does St. Louis sugar, milo and the other products you mentioned. Pure monopoly is more of a theory.
I agree we need more like products to come into the market for open competition in order to avoid collusion.

Missy_B:

Indomie noodles does not operate under a monopoly market structure, but an oligopoly; so does St. Louis sugar, milo choco-milo cube and the other products you mentioned. Pure monopoly is more of a theory.
I agree we need more like products to come into the market for open competition in order to avoid collusion.

i don't understand, if you say St' Louis sugar operates under oligopoly market structure, where are few competitors and why do you say so. ive not seen any since ive been consuming this product, i agree in the case of Indomie noodles and cabin biscuit

humblebee:

Monopoly Products: Think Of Those Things That Has Been Around With No Rivals

I was just looking at my pack of St. Louis cube Sugar and i just thought of those things that has always been around for years with no similar competitive product, i can remember this cube sugar has been around as far back as 1980s while i was in primary school.

This product has enjoyed the Nigerian market for so long that we barely ask for another,  im not against it, im just saying. what is so special or what are they doing right that has made this product so acceptable to us, they have become a family name that you find it so difficult to ask for another brand.

other products too includes, indomie noodles before the other ones like chikki and dangote came into the market but still has not been able to compete well.
i might be wrong or maybe not exposed enough to see other options but i know there some products in this category you can remember, maybe before i was born tlll date,
okin biscuit was also around for so long for the average while Mc. Vites varieties was for the rich.

can you remember anyone?
those things you used to buy to boarding school  and so on,

These companies have been around for ages, they have an obscene knowledge of the industry and that makes it practically impossible to compete. They have access to specific technologies that make competition difficult, they can set prices and undercut new entrants if they wish. They are sort of a cartel if you like- only cooperating among each other. It's basically monopoly- difference is that a few large firms control the market.

Frankly, its a matter of product quality.

I will take St. Louis for example. I know that their have been two other sugar companies that came into the market and folded up because they couldnt keep up. One of them had a rectangular cube and the other one came in a green and white packet.

I believe that two things have kept st. louis in business;

1. Product quality

2. Price.

I think st. louis also has the advantage of manufacturing in a condisive environment where the materials are avaliable, cost of production is cheap and its chaper for them to import into our market and sell than it is for local companies to manufacture and sell here.

Indomie is also a matter of consumer confidence. We all grew up with indomie. They have not let us down ever. Their taste is premuim. The only change that they were forced to make by competing companies was to increase the size of their product. They have a wider distribution network as well. With the exception of the "killer indomie" saga, the company has held its own. New companies would have to think of an ingenous gimmick to break that hold. I have tasted other noodles and to be fair to them, they are quite good, but not so spectacular to pull me away from indomie.

Look at the "food seasoning" market. Maggi held sway until Knorr came in and tipped the market. Even players like Rouco and others are struggling to compete.

The Nigerian business environment isnt too encouraging for new businesses trying to enter a market where certain products already hold sway. For starters, the problem of multiple taxation is crippling. This coupled with the insane cost of doing busines (electricity, e.t.c.). Most businesses fail before they even step out the door.

How you know that a product is leading is for example, you walk into a shop to purchase noodles, You would most likely say "Plase give me indomie". It may not necessarily mean you want to buy the brand indomie, but thats the leading brand that everyone knows. The same thing applies to insecticides (Shelltox), powdered detergents (Omo), Bar soap (Key soap or truck soap), seasoning (Maggi), Cocoa (bournvita or Milo) e.t.c.

gala

nwanna89:

gala

i almost forgot this one, its one good example too, an average Nigerian doesnt know gala is just a brand name, lol
people even go to d extent of calling other brands gala. e.g give me meatie gala instead of meatie beef roll, its so funny but one has to give it to these companies. i only welcome competition to regulate price and sometimes trigger sense of competitive existence

nwanna89:

gala

lol i remember this dude.Guess he is out of business

stepo707:

lol i remember this dude.Guess he is out of business

Apparently, he was doing a research on street hawking in Nigeria. So he had to get involved in it

humblebee:

st louis sugar, this one especially

The sad thing for me is that it is made in France!

funny when u ask for maggi, the sellers would ask whether u looking for star maggi or knorr maggi or royco maggi.

I used 2 think "maclean" was d general name 4 toothpaste

ngolieze22:

I used 2 think "maclean" was d general name 4 toothpaste

seriously! we all did

ITbomb:

funny when u ask for maggi, the sellers would ask whether u looking for star maggi or knorr maggi or royco maggi.

very funny, you can't change that you know or how else are you suppose to let them know?, lol
oya suggest a simple name for seasoning cubes cos you can tell this to a market woman, you'll end up leaving from one stall to another

ngolieze22:

I used 2 think "maclean" was d general name 4 toothpaste

me too

omo, and bleach (before they change the name to jik)

All bottled water are refer to as "Ragolis"

Not forgetting Tom Tom

Coca Cola or Coke

All detergents are OMO.
All seasonings are Maggi.

So we thought.

AGEGE BREAD NO GET RIVAL.

EVERY BUTTER WAS CALLED BLUE BAND

Maybe you don't understand patent laws properly.
Once a particular product has been registered under patent law which covers the taste, content, and so many other things about the product, it has become illegal for anyone to produce similar product.
For Instance, the St Louis Cube sugar: That shape has been registered. Except you come up with another shape.
Indomie Noddles: There are other noddles, but the taste of Indomie is unique
Coca Cola: Even if the owner of Pepsi have the formular for coca-cola, they dare not produce it or else, they will go bankrupt as a result of litigation from coca-cola.
One thing we should pray for is unique Divine Ideas and inspiration that will be a landmark for eternity.

Shows the paucity in entrepreneurship pervading the land. Outside oil the economy is one big franchaise. Buy and sell. And once a product locks in it easily burns competition. Have you noticed most of those products rarely undergo improvements. Good or bad they force them on us. Just imagine the circus of the LaCasera relaunch only to discover the change was a contoured bottle. Nigerians don't demand excellence so they don't get it.

9icelag:

All bottled water are refer to as "Ragolis"

beknown:

Coca Cola or Coke

i look back and i tot at first i was raz then, or because i attended a public school but na lie ooo
good to know we all were into these ,

fm7070:

Maybe you don't understand patent laws properly.
Once a particular product has been registered under patent law which covers the taste, content, and so many other things about the product, it has become illegal for anyone to produce similar product.
For Instance, the St Louis Cube sugar: That shape has been registered. Except you come up with another shape.
Indomie Noddles: There are other noddles, but the taste of Indomie is unique
Coca Cola: Even if the owner of Pepsi have the formular for coca-cola, they dare not produce it or else, they will go bankrupt as a result of litigation from coca-cola.
One thing we should pray for is unique Divine Ideas and inspiration that will be a landmark for eternity.

yea you're right, but do you remember there was a similar sugar in conical shape at a time and it was doing fine but i remember anytime i bought that particular one to my father, he'll ask me to return it and even in boarding schools then, they see you as "un-soji" person, lol

i don't understand,  if you say St' Louis sugar operates under oligopoly market structure, where are few competitors and why do you say so. ive not seen any since ive been consuming this product, i agree in the case of Indomie noodles and cabin biscuit

The few competitors are the local manufacturers of granulated sugars who can afford to sell a "congo" of Sugar for less than a quarter of the price for which St Louis is selling at.

These local competitors can afford to increase the quantity they produce, minimize cost of production and subsequently reduce price to end consumers.

Pure monopoly will only exist in reality, in industries where the sole supplier of services/goods is the government, e.g PHCN. . . .or in industries, where existing legislation allows for a few individuals to increase their market share and dominance. . . .either ways, monopoly will not work in reality except the government has a hand in it.


Gala, noodles etc all have several brands selling in Naija, they cannot afford to raise their price or reduce the quantity they produce except the market demands it.

pls, allow me to digress a little

funny enough, people still refer to any detergent that is blue in the market as "omo"

still on brand names,  Okada Airline was the fastest and most efficient in the 80s before its 'death'. Ironically, motorbikes are now popularly called Okada.