The Three Tiers of Noncustomers

Kim and Mauborgne's noncustomer analysis inverts the conventional strategic focus on existing customers to reveal that the greatest growth opportunities lie with the people who do not currently participate in a market. They identify three tiers of non-consumption, arranged by distance from the existing market. The first tier consists of people who minimally participate — sitting on the edge of the market, using the industry's products because no alternative exists, but ready to leave if one appears. They are 'soon-to-be noncustomers' whose loyalty is circumstantial. The second tier consists of people who have consciously evaluated and refused the market's offerings — not from ignorance but from informed rejection, because the available products do not justify their cost, complexity, or misfit with specific needs. The third tier is the largest and least visible: people who have never considered the market relevant to their lives, who operate in a world where the industry's products do not