market leader

Noun

market leader (plural market leaders)

1. A product that is chosen by more consumers than any of its competitors.
   • The aim of the sophisticated type of own label is to present customers with a product which has at least as good a quality as the brand of the market leader.1995, Klaus Günter Grunert, Hanne Hartvig Larsen, Tage Koed Madsen, Market Orientation in Food and Agriculture, page 235
   • Another useful technique, known as a sequential monadic, is, at the next stage of development, to have target consumers use both the prototype formula and the market leader or competitive benchmark product.1996, D. F. Williams, S.D. Williams, W.H. Schmitt, Chemistry and Technology of the Cosmetics and Toiletries Industry, page 114
2. A company that manufactures or markets a market leader or that outsells all other similar businesses.
   • The lesson is that when you are competing with a strong market leader you should not necessarily attack head on, but try to change the rules of the game: for example by approaching the customer from a new direction.2003, Paul Sloane, The Leader's Guide to Lateral Thinking Skills
   • A fragmented industry where no one firm has a significant market share tends to be more fiercely competitive than one which is a clear market leader who is in a dominant position. The lack of a clear market leader may be explained by the fact that the industry is emerging and is in a condition of...2009, Per V. Jenster, Klaus Solberg Søilen, Market Intelligence: Building Strategic Insight, page 59