How to Gain Market Share and Build a Dominant Business
- Dr. Giovanni Calise
- Sep 2
- 6 min read
Why Market Share is the Real Growth Multiplier
Every entrepreneur talks about growth, but too often they think it means adding shiny new products, chasing new markets, or spending big on ads. But the most successful leaders in management and business know a secret: the fastest, most sustainable growth often comes from one thing—learning how to gain market share in the market you already serve.
Gaining market share means winning customers away from competitors and increasing your portion of the pie. It’s not about inventing something completely new—it’s about executing better, serving smarter, and building stronger loyalty. Famous entrepreneurs like Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Howard Schultz (Starbucks), and Sam Walton (Walmart) didn’t build empires by trying to do everything at once. They started by focusing on penetration—offering better value, improving customer experience, and making sure more and more people in their category chose them.
Here’s the equation to remember:
Revenue = Customers × Frequency × Average Order Value.
If you want to scale, you need more customers in your base. And the most direct way to get them? Gain market share.
Gain Market Share Through Better Offers
One of the strongest strategies in the market penetration playbook is crafting better offers that outshine the competition.
This doesn’t always mean slashing prices to the bottom. While penetration pricing—starting with a low price to lure customers before gradually increasing—has its place, gaining share is more often about delivering perceived value.
Take Netflix’s early years. Its low monthly subscription fee compared to DVD rental stores wasn’t just cheaper—it was better. It solved customer frustrations with late fees and limited selection. Or look at Costco: customers pay a membership fee, but in exchange, they feel like they’re accessing unbeatable value on bulk goods.
For entrepreneurs, the leadership principle here is clear: compete on what matters most to customers, not just what’s easiest to change. Whether that’s price, convenience, or an added perk, the goal is to create offers so compelling that customers feel foolish staying with your competitor.
Promotions for Competitor Users: Converting Switchers
To gain market share, you must be bold enough to target competitor users directly. These are people who already want what you sell—they’re just buying it from someone else.
Telecommunications companies are masters at this. Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile constantly dangle switching bonuses—free phones, bill credits, or limited-time discounts—to entice competitor users. Gyms and fitness studios use promotions like “no sign-up fees for switchers” to lure customers away from rival clubs.
But entrepreneurs must tread carefully. Exclusive promotions for switchers should be balanced with loyalty perks for existing customers to avoid resentment. A practical example is offering a welcome discount for switchers alongside a loyalty bonus for long-time customers.
👉 Famous entrepreneur Richard Branson embodied this principle with Virgin Atlantic. He boldly targeted loyal British Airways customers by offering not just competitive pricing, but a cheekier, more customer-friendly flying experience.
This is where management and business strategy meets execution: know your competitor’s weaknesses, and design offers that make switching a no-brainer.
Improve User Experience: Out-Serve the Competition
If you really want to gain market share, here’s the ultimate lever: provide a better user experience (UX) than anyone else.
Products can be copied. Prices can be matched. But experience—the way a customer feels when they interact with your business—is much harder to duplicate.
Chick-fil-A proves this. It isn’t just about fried chicken—it’s about consistently clean restaurants, friendly employees, and fast, accurate service. This dedication to customer experience has given them industry-leading loyalty and market share growth in an extremely crowded field.
Starbucks, under Howard Schultz, followed a similar principle. Schultz didn’t just sell coffee—he sold a “third place” between home and work, creating an environment people wanted to visit daily. That’s not just product differentiation—it’s a leadership principle applied at scale.
Entrepreneurs should constantly measure satisfaction, whether through surveys, app notifications, or direct conversations. If you can identify the small frictions and remove them, you’ll build loyalty while competitors bleed customers.
Use Social Proof to Gain Market Share
Customers don’t just trust marketing—they trust other people. That’s why social proof is such a powerful way to gain market share.
Amazon has built its empire on reviews. Yelp and TripAdvisor thrive because people want validation from other buyers before committing. Smaller brands can do this too—by showcasing testimonials, reviews, case studies, and user-generated content on social media.
Social proof doesn’t just reassure new customers; it converts competitor users. When people see that others have switched and are happy, it builds momentum. As Warren Buffett once said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.” Protecting and amplifying your reputation through social proof is a growth weapon.
👉 The leadership principle here is about humility. Let your customers do the talking. Leaders who embrace transparency and customer voices will naturally build stronger reputations—and with it, greater market share.
Why Famous Entrepreneurs Focus on Market Share
Look at the playbooks of history’s most famous entrepreneurs.
Sam Walton gained market share by offering “everyday low prices” and relentlessly focusing on operational efficiency.
Jeff Bezos started Amazon by obsessing over customer convenience, ensuring that buying a book online was faster and easier than going to a bookstore.
Howard Schultz transformed Starbucks into a global giant by focusing not on coffee alone, but on experience, community, and consistency.
What do they all have in common? They weren’t distracted by chasing everything at once. They focused on penetrating deeper into their existing market and slowly expanded outward.
👉 That’s not just a business tactic—it’s a leadership principle. Focus wins, scatter kills.
The Formula for Entrepreneurs: Management, Leadership, and Market Share
For today’s entrepreneurs, the challenge is to apply these timeless strategies to your own context. The formula looks simple:
Management and business discipline gives you the structure to execute offers, promotions, and experiences consistently.
Leadership principles provide the inspiration to motivate your team and inspire customers.
Famous entrepreneurs offer case studies and proof that this approach works across industries and decades.
And when you combine those with a relentless focus to gain market share, you unlock the compounding growth that every entrepreneur dreams about.
Conclusion: Gain Market Share or Get Left Behind
Here’s the bottom line: in competitive markets, standing still is falling behind. If you’re not actively working to gain market share, your competitors are already taking it from you.
The strategies are simple but powerful: build better offers, design promotions for competitor users, out-serve everyone with improved UX, and amplify social proof until customers can’t ignore you.
As Colossians 3:23-24 reminds us: “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.” Growth isn’t just about tactics—it’s about mindset, discipline, and consistency.
So ask yourself: Are you building offers bold enough to pull customers away from competitors? Are you delivering an experience remarkable enough to retain them? Are you willing to apply the leadership principles that famous entrepreneurs used to dominate their markets?
Because if you are, then you already know the next step. Gain market share today, and you build the empire of tomorrow.
Gaining Market Share Series
Growth isn’t luck—it’s strategy. And one of the most powerful strategies in management and business is market penetration: learning how to dominate the market you’re already in. The greatest companies and the most famous entrepreneurs didn’t start by chasing everything—they started by mastering focus. In this series, we’ll break down the five levers of market penetration that every leader must understand to scale with confidence. Each blog dives deep into practical tactics, inspiring leadership principles, and proven case studies so you can take action today and gain the market share you’ve been leaving on the table. This is blog #1 in the series. Be sure to read all 5:
References
Ansoff, H.I. (1957) ‘Strategies for Diversification’, Harvard Business Review, 35(5), pp. 113–124.
Baines, P., Fill, C. and Page, K. (2013) Essentials of Marketing. 2nd edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Grant, R.M. (2019) Contemporary Strategy Analysis. 10th edn. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Johnson, G., Scholes, K. and Whittington, R. (2020) Exploring Corporate Strategy: Text and Cases. 12th edn. Harlow: Pearson Education.
Kotler, P. and Keller, K.L. (2016) Marketing Management. 15th edn. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.
The Trade Desk (n.d.) Ideal Frequency Optimization. Available at: https://www.thetradedesk.com/us/resource-desk/ideal-frequency-optimization (Accessed: 14 August 2025).
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