👉 Background: Godfrey's started in 1931 in Melbourne, before growing to over 200 stores and franchises. In fact, it became one of the world's largest vacuum retailers.

👉 What happened: But 93 years after cleaning their very first floors, Godfrey's has gone into voluntary administration. It will shut down 54 stores immediately and will look for a new buyer after facing a "challenging operating environment."

👉 What else: Godfrey's faced major competition from electronic retailers like Harvey Norman, JB Hi-Fi, and Kogan.com. These are all companies that sold vacuums as just one of their many products, as opposed to making vacuums their whole business.

What's the key learning?

💡Mastering a niche product is always a tightrope between being an expert and being irrelevant.

💡Having a niche specialisation allows companies to establish themselves as leaders in a particular field, and this can lead to a loyal customer base of returning customers. But, a niche specialisation also means you're incredibly vulnerable to market changes in that niche.

💡When stick vacuums became all the rage back in the mid 2010's, Godfrey's didn't adapt as well as it could have. 50% of all the vacuum sales were stick vacuums by 2018, but Godfrey's had less than one third of their sales in stick vacs. And, for a company that specialises in a niche, you need to be across the latest trends.

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