Coloplast
Coloplast dominates stigmatized medical niches—like remora specializing on sharks—where patient loyalty and switching costs create competitive moats from discomfort.
Coloplast commands 30-40% of the global ostomy care market—a USD 3.9 billion sector growing at 5.5% annually—by specializing in products most companies avoid: ostomy bags, continence care, and wound management for intimate healthcare needs. Founded in 1957 when Danish nurse Elise Sørensen created the first adhesive ostomy bag for her sister, Coloplast built market dominance in stigmatized medical niches where patient loyalty is fierce and switching costs are high. The company's SenSura Mio product line drove 6% organic growth in 2020, with continuous innovation like the Peristeen Light (launched February 2024) for bowel disorder management.
This is niche construction through specialization—occupying ecological space competitors neglect. Like remora fish that evolved to feed on shark parasites (a niche too specific for generalist predators), Coloplast thrives in markets requiring deep clinical expertise, patient education infrastructure, and discreet distribution networks. The biology matters: ostomy care isn't a product category—it's a lifetime relationship. Patients undergo colostomy procedures (44.92% of market) after colon cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, or trauma. They need not just bags but ongoing clinical support, skin barrier products, and odor management solutions. Coloplast's installed base creates keystone species dynamics: once patients adapt to a system, switching involves relearning techniques, risking skin complications, and navigating insurance reauthorization.
Coloplast's revenue concentration—only 16.6% from emerging markets (Brazil, China, India) as of 2019—reflects deliberate strategy. The company focuses on developed markets with aging populations, robust healthcare reimbursement, and established ostomy care protocols. This is adaptive radiation into adjacent niches: from ostomy care (core), to continence care (urology products), to wound care (chronic wound management). Each segment shares distribution channels, clinical relationships, and patient trust. The constraint isn't market size—the global ostomy care market will reach USD 5.7+ billion by 2031. The constraint is comfort: ostomy care will always be a market most competitors find easier to ignore than enter. Coloplast built a moat from discomfort.