A detailed Step-By Step Guide To A Comprehensive Export Market Research

There is a possibility for your company to undertake an export market research with little or no help from a research company. The reason behind which most businesses hire an outside research service is due to their expertise and time for which employees can engage in other important activities for the business. If you have the resources and time, why not get an in-house research team to get all the valuable information you will need from the markets of your choice.

Well, we have put together a step by step guide you can follow and which may be useful in obtaining the practical results you may need to pass value judgment regarding your interest for a new market. The guide can be used to dissect any market for potential opportunities and for the management of any business to make strategic decisions whether a market is viable for business or not.

The guide is made up of over 9 steps with target to key areas like understanding the needs of the market, developing the market needs, identifying key competitors, understanding the market characteristics and learning more about the regions potential resources that can facilitate business development and profitability. Below are the steps which may guide and point you to the valuable information you may need,

Screening Potential Markets,

If you still don’t have a specific market of interest, then the starting line of your research can be to screen potential export markets, which takes us to our first step

Step 1.

In other to investigate potential markets, you should be able to know the export statistics for a wide variety of markets that might point you to attractive markets . You need to be able to identify the countries, regions, with huge import volume of your kind of product or services. The data should be able to tell specifically how much of this product is being imported in to those markets.

Now, you must have a clue of the markets importing your kind of product, it is very important to analyse the country profile and the economic reports about the country. It is also very vital to identify what the international credit rating of the country as you must know the markets ability to pay for your good s and services.

Also, it is of prime importance to understand the markets’ or the country’s risk assessment rating. It is important to examine each and every variable that might signal or raise red flags for a conducive market environment.

Step 2

At this stage, you must have come up with at least five to ten markets with attractive and fast-expanding rate with possibilities to take advantage in exporting the products of your company. Even though you have been able to identify these markets, it is still important to look out for more information that can further validate your list of markets.

It is very important to make sure the growth for the market has been consistent years after years, what has been the import growth of the market even during worst economic conditions like recession. You must understand the market recovery rate during tough economic conditions.

Step 3.

After you have been able to identify some key markets, seek some more smaller and fast emerging markets with potential opportunities for ground floor niche products or services your company may offer. This can help to build a foundation as you may grow with the market and enjoy the benefits of first to market.

The good thing about emerging and newly open markets is the lack of any form of competition which may be a crucial issue with already established markets. With such markets, your business can easily be established. Another important aspect of newly opened or emerging markets is the possibility of growth can be very high. As an up-and-coming emerging market, the starting point is less challenging and in such markets, growth can be realized at a very fast pace.

Step 4

At this stage, you must have a few number of markets you are looking at, but you must only consider markets with promising statistical data for further assessment. You may draw out three to five markets from your list which may meet the criteria. You will need to reach out for more information and a better grasp of the target markets to further refine the market needs. You can make contact with your country embassy in that market, the chamber of commerce, trade organizations, business associates, freight forwarders, and key associations of the industry in that market.

Your goal here is to get valuable information and insight from representatives in the area. You must be able to learn about every possible information there is to know to avoid any circumstances which may come as a surprise. The key here is to get information from numerous channels and match the consistency and validity.

Make assess to the specific target markets

Step 5

At this stage you need to assess vital information about the trends of the product in the market or related products and the reason behind the demand. You have to understand the market by calculating the total consumption of your product or service and how much of the total consumption is accounted for by imports.

Also, you must have access to the  country’s reports and marketing plans (industry sector analyses) that may have been analysed by the regions chamber of commerce or other government authorities. With such information, you will have the economic background  and the trends of the markets.

Another important information you will need to get at this stage will be the market demographic Information like the population, age, gender, provides insights for a better understanding of the market. You must know the characteristics of the market which will help in decision making.

Step 6

At this level, you can learn about your competition and the market domestic production levels. This is very important for every market research. It is also important to identify the major foreign players in the market.  It is important to take your time to study the competition inside out.  Understand their strategy and try to anticipate their reaction to your entry into the market. Understand their strengths and weaknesses.

Also, pay closer attention to every competitor’s share of the market. Who is leading the market and what can you judge from their activities in the market. Ask questions like, can the market be easily penetrated? If yes provide answers with how.

Step 7

Now you can start analyzing the marketing and selling needs of the market.  Consider to analyze what factors can affect marketing (cultural, political, geographical etc). Put down a list of marketing requirements and make sure your product or service permits you to be flexible in the market.

It is very important to have a closer look at the competitions products and what other substitute are available in the market. You must analyze the end-user sector as well. What are the expectations of the customer? Can your products meet the customer’s expectation?

At this stage you must consider to analyze the options of distributions. Who are the key distributors in the market? What are the possibilities of engaging these key distributors to carry your products or service. Do they have control over or their outreach includes your target market?

In addition, it is important to analyze the local business practices and the broader cultural values of the region. Check back with your product and service offerings. Will they stand in line with the business practices and values of the region?

Step 8

Before any validation of the market, it is very important to check for any existence of foreign tariff or trade barriers involving the target market and origin of product or service. Identify any barriers that might limit importation into the target market. Look out for any technology or product agreement that might pose a strong barrier to export to those markets.

Step 9

Look for opportunities you can take advantage of in the target market. Does the foreign government offers international incentives to promote export to the target market for some specific products or services? If yes how can such incentives help for your market entry?

Sort out for any international grants or loan facilities in the target market.  Any local market funds you can use for capital. Check out insurance cover for country risk and guarantees for loans or credits.

Value Judgments (Conclution)

After you been able to put together all the valuable information as required above, you can start to draw your conclusions about the market. Can your marketing resources be effectively used in the market? Does the risks outweigh the opportunities? If there are common red flags, can you overcome them profitably?

EndNote

If you are considering exporting into new markets and for the first time, it is very important to pay more attention to fewer markets and not more than ten countries. At the very start, you can decide to proceed with two or three markets first and observe before gradually take on other profitable markets. This can also be determined by the resources available for your business. If you are faced with limited resources, then you can easily start with one or two markets. Using all the above steps can guide you for market insights but if you are short of time and resources to undertake in-depth market research, we are just a few clicks away.