Where do these images come from(may be difficult for non-austrians):



Guessed it? Yeah, a Chinese restaurant - good ol’ fast-food eating Tam was at a restaurant and lost an hour of his life eating slowly(=)). But that’s not the point I want to make - instead, look at the pictures given above once again.

Every chinese restaurant I visited so far has had at least half of the stuff pictured above - the picture seems to be an especially ‘hot’ seller. However, none of the chinese people I met so far(not many, please comment) had all that decor at home.

The reason why chinese restaurants abide to this ‘insane’ standard is simple; people expect it exactly like that. For them, seeing the picture makes them think about chinese restaurants…

Fighting a stereotype is difficult and expensive; the only ‘asian’ restaurant that does it successfully is the Yu-Me(extremely famous, expensive restaurant). They paid an incredible price though - the modern architecture costed xyz times more than a ’standard’ one.

Overall, for a small company, sticking to a stereotype usually works best. So, before launching a product, look at existing stereotypes in the market and adjust to them - you’ll have a much easier time selling your stuff. Beeing extraordinary can pay out big - but since the emphasis is on can, you may want to start out small…

What do you think?