From substitutes to complements

We are used to think in terms of substitutes (one product/service replaces another). So our competitors are those with similar products and our pricing needs to be lower than our competitors’ (or our quality needs to be better).

In the digital world, however, complements (products/services which complement each other) play a much more important role. This has significant consequences on who our „competitors“ are, how to form our relationship to these „competitors“ (or partners) and how to set prices (complements influence each other).