#177 Why Go Mainstream (26/10/2025)

I want to become a more mainstream, more popular brand, but the road is so difficult. I've tried my best, but the further I go, the more I realize it's like the story of David versus Goliath—it's so hard for a boy to challenge a powerful force. It would be better to focus on a niche, small market, but to enter the mainstream, all skills need to be at a higher level, which is also very difficult.

Why I want to enter the mainstream

I believe that entering the mainstream is the only way out for all entrepreneurs. Or, let me first explain what I mean by mainstream. For me, mainstream means having a certain level of recognition in the market, and accounting for more than 1% of the industry's total annual revenue. That is, if we assume some small businesses might be making handmade trinkets and selling them at weekend markets, they might not achieve a 1% market share, and in my opinion, they haven't entered the mainstream. Of course, I don't mean that businesses that don't enter the mainstream are not worth supporting, but rather that without entering the mainstream, I fear development will be unsustainable, and future operations will be difficult. However, if some people do business out of interest, or perhaps "Daddy has already left me a large sum of money," and they do business for enjoyment and a better life, then they can completely disregard my statement. There are many reasons to enter the mainstream, but the main reason is that everyone starts small, catering to a relatively small segment of the market. However, as you continue, you'll encounter a problem: if you don't expand your reach, you'll quickly exhaust your contacts within a year or two. For example, suppose I make healthy mini cakes and have a small street shop in Tai Kok Tsui. Local residents might see it and buy from me, or they might recommend it to their friends and family. But most people in the Hong Kong market don't know about my Tai Kok Tsui mini cake shop, so they still go to A-1 Maxim's Saint Anna to buy cakes. Maybe you're a health enthusiast and want to eat some mini cakes, but you don't know me or my Tai Kok Tsui shop, so you still go to A-1 Maxim's Saint Anna. At the same time, I ran a shop in Tai Kok Tsui for a while . Locals who wanted to try new cakes did, and even though my cakes were delicious and consistently high-quality, the cakes from other shops were very appealing. When new shops opened in other districts, Tai Kok Tsui residents would also try them. And people can't eat cake every day, so the quota went to cake shops in other districts. Perhaps we still had a group of fans, but the novelty wore off, and our Tai Kok Tsui cake shop gradually couldn't cover costs, so we had to close down. If you calculate it, we made money in the first half of the year, lost money in the second half, and in the last few years, it was all for nothing.

This is a common situation—therefore, the vast majority of small businesses close down within a few years.

This is also why I feel there's no choice but to take the business to the next level. I want to reach more people so that Re Pillow Co. can operate simply, customers can buy better products at better prices, and colleagues can get paid on time, live healthy lives, and go to and from work happily. I can just live a simple life, that's enough.