first mover advantage

First Mover Advantage is a time-oriented competitive strategy. The pioneer companies (first movers) create sustainable image advantages and preference advantages through their early presence in a particular segment or new market.

In contrast to follower companies (late movers or followers), first movers are able to win a large market share for themselves early on and subsequently benefit from economies of scale in production and processing.

In e-commerce, Amazon in the online book sector and Ebay in the online auction sector are two companies that have managed to become first movers in their markets with high marketing investments. Companies are not always able to exploit the first mover advantage on a permanent basis. In many cases, smart followers enter the market with an optimized product concept and thus capture market share.