Despite frequent criticism, market share remains one of the most sought-after measures of marketing success. 

According to this year’s Language of Effectiveness survey, conducted in partnership with Kantar and Google, nearly three in five (57.9%) of more than 1,000 brand marketers ranked growing market share as one of their most important priorities.

It is the third year in a row that market share has topped the survey, underlining its enduring influence across the industry. Yet, while some see it as a straightforward shorthand for growth, others argue it risks fostering short-term thinking and destructive competition.

Critics Warn Against Short-Termism

Senior marketing leaders in FMCG, including the CMOs of Carlsberg and Mars Food and Nutrition, have labelled market share as a “dangerous” obsession. 

Both argue that competing solely for share in mature, low-growth categories creates a vicious cycle of price-cutting and promotions. Instead, they suggest long-term growth comes from building entire categories, not simply snatching volume from rivals.

Their concern is that a blinkered focus on any one metric, particularly market share, creates an unbalanced view of performance. It can encourage businesses to chase competitive wins at the expense of profitability, brand health, and category expansion.

Why Businesses Still Value Market Share

Yet the metric continues to hold sway – particularly in sectors like retail. Pete Markey, until recently CMO at Boots, recalls how the brand celebrated 17 consecutive quarters of market share growth. 

Market share, he explained, was not just an internal goal but a measure tracked by external stakeholders, analysts, and investors. It’s a measure that shows that you are not only growing your own business, but growing your slice versus competitors.

The same applies to the UK’s largest supermarket, Tesco, where market share has always been a core commercial target. As a former senior executive explained, market share offers important context: revenue growth in isolation may look healthy, but without share data, it’s impossible to know if competitors are outpacing you.

Challenger Brands See Opportunity

While market leaders may look to grow categories, challenger brands often thrive by disrupting them. 

Eco-friendly toilet paper company Who Gives A Crap is one example. Beginning life as a DTC brand, it is now stocked in major retailers and ranks as the third-biggest brand in its category. 

For disruptors like this, market share becomes a natural barometer of progress, signalling their success in winning customers from long-standing incumbents.

Market Share as a Proxy for Growth

For many marketers, the appeal lies in its simplicity. As one marketing director put it, market share is the easiest shorthand for successful growth, because it’s competitive growth. In other words, it provides a direct read on whether a brand is outperforming rivals.

However, experts caution against using it in isolation. Good marketers, they argue, consider a dashboard of measures including cash flow, profit, margin, and brand equity. Without this balance, the pursuit of market share at all costs risks triggering price wars that erode profitability.

The Role of Pricing and Promotions

Another industry commentator pointed out that the most damaging cycles occur when businesses lean too heavily on discounting to maintain share. They stressed that strong pricing strategies, guided by tools like market mix modelling, can help retailers and brands avoid short-term traps.

Tesco’s Clubcard Prices campaign is one example of promotional activity that has been framed as part of a longer-term strategy. While fundamentally a price promotion, it reinforced brand competitiveness without undermining its broader positioning.

Category Growth vs. Competitive Growth

Interestingly, the survey also revealed a significant gap between industry rhetoric and practice. 

While leaders at Carlsberg and Mars prioritise category growth, only 19.7% of respondents to the Language of Effectiveness survey listed it as a primary objective. For many marketers, particularly in categories influenced by external forces such as global milk prices, influencing overall market dynamics may be beyond reach.

As such, the industry remains divided: category growth may be the holy grail for some, but for others, market share remains the most practical, measurable indicator of success.

Conclusion: Finding Balance in the Metrics That Matter

The debate around market share is unlikely to end soon. For some sectors, like FMCG, a fixation on competitive wins risks driving unsustainable short-term tactics. For others, like retail, market share is both a strategic and financial necessity, providing vital context for growth.

What is clear is that no single metric can define marketing success. Market share offers an important lens, but it must sit alongside measures of profitability, brand health, and long-term sustainability. 

The smartest marketers recognise that growth is a multifaceted challenge – and the healthiest businesses are those that balance ambition for share with the bigger picture.