Hotelling's law

Hotelling's law is an observation in economics that in many markets it is rational for producers to make their products as similar as possible.

[1] The opposing phenomenon is product differentiation, which is usually considered to be a business advantage if executed properly.

If there is an equal distribution of rational consumers along the beach, each pushcart will get half the customers, divided by an invisible line equidistant from the carts.

Despite the constant battle for position, pushcarts follow Hotelling’s Law and aggregate near the center of the street.

[2] In a democracy, and especially in the American two-party system, political parties want to maximize the vote share allocated to their candidate.

In theory, this means that political parties will adjust their platform to comply with the median voters' preferences.

This phenomenon can be observed in real life, where commodity businesses like bars, restaurants, and gas stations, as well as large, branded chains, are located close to their rivals:[5]