Looking for a market research report sample for expanding your business internationally?
Market research is the primary step in expanding any business internationally. Different countries around the world follow different cultures, have different tastes and perspectives about a certain product. The market research report helps identify such beliefs, needs, and wants of a specific audience segment.
Market research is a huge task gathering information and data of products, services, competitors that revolve around your business product. The better way of conducting market research is by diving the research into small goals.
If you are looking for a market research report sample, here are some research tools to focus on when covering market research for expanding internationally, i.e., looking forward to making your business export its products.
Identify Your Business Core
The idea of extending your business in global markets starts from zero. Good market research and recognizing your business competence and capacities are all it takes to expand internationally.
The business’s ability to expand internally depends not only on the product but also on identifying the big opportunities and finding the right export expertise. All other aspects of market research like product positioning, goals, product segmentation, consumer identification can be adapted as per the needs but not the core competency of the business.
For instance, Gillette recognized the market in countries like China, Mexico, and India and delivered quality shave products. Not only this, but they also provided a range of shaving product lines for females and produced the lowest price-quality razors for feminine hygiene. Similarly, Philips was able to identify the market in different countries and launched new product lines as per the needs.
It not only provides electrical and lighting equipment but also has a wide range of home appliances in its product line.
Classify The Market
Before expanding the business, you need to know the regions and markets where you would like to expand it. Conducting a market classification can help you divide the various countries depending on their population size and household income.
Classify your market in three categories, namely opportunistic market, emerging market, and mature markets. Emerging markets have the most potential as developing countries provide free entry and exit of foreign business. The developed countries or the mature markets usually have restricted access to imports. Conversely, the emerging or the less developed countries are big, but they lack the proper infrastructure and wealth to house foreign businesses.
Conduct Research By The Country
Break your goals into tasks. When conducting market research by country, first allow yourself to decide the particular part of the world you are trying to export your product.
If you are planning to expand internationally to many countries simultaneously, conduct market research of each country step by step. Dig deeper into the likes, dislikes, culture, and tastes of native citizens there. Make sure the product isn’t hurting the religious or cultural sentiments of the nation. For instance, in the year 2017, Dove hurt the feelings of feminists due to their limited-edition packaging. The packaging of the soap represented female bodies and compared them to shapeless soap bottles.
When counting country research, consider the external factors governing the export business like the custom regulations, export restrictions, and other important factors. Also, look for guides that provide a sneak-peek into the market conditions of a particular country.
Conduct Industry Research
Once you have shortlisted the specific countries for expanding your business internationally, the next step is to conduct industry research on each of such countries. Industry research refers to researching the industry your product belongs to.
For instance, if your product is an automobile, you research the success and failures of the automobile industry in the specific country/area. If your business niche is clothing, researching deep into the existing clothing industry in the area will be beneficial.
Taking it a step higher, industry research also involves researching about latest market intelligence in your industry (to keep pace with the changing circumstances and advanced technology), trade leads, and trade events concerning your industry.
Take into consideration knowing answers to the big questions like:
- Is your target country have a decent per capita forecast expenditure?
- Is your industry niche expected to see the highest growth in the coming scenario?
To penetrate deep into the market, you need to increase your reach by spreading sales and marketing agents across the nation. Next, you need to keep your product/service priced lower than your competing market. For instance, Unilever took an affordability move by turning its products into small sachets to make them affordable for the citizens of India or China.
Know Your Competitors
Researching the external environment that decides the success and failure of your product in a region is vital. One such component of the external environment is competitors. Do not overlook the local competitors of your product/brand. A deep study of all competitors’ market research report sample is necessary to penetrate deep into a market that is already utilized. You should be able to answer questions like:
- What would make your audience choose your product/service over your industry’s existing product/services?
- Who are your major competitors, and what are their strengths and weaknesses?
- Are the competitors local or foreign? Do people in the area prefer using local products or exported products?
- Is the country a high entry barrier, i.e., if the country has strict rules towards FTA?
Studying your competitors in a deep analysis will allow you to frame your business strategies accordingly. You can’t expect the local people to run to your brand as soon as you launch it. You need to create proper marketing and sales strategies to allow people to know your brand, why they should prefer you over the existing ones, and alike.
Learn About The Distribution Channels
Oh! Did you forget about this? Did you expect your products to reach each part of a foreign country by themselves? Definitely no. This is when distribution channels come into action. A product has to go through different distribution channels to reach the selling point.
Sometimes distribution channels may allow you to export in part of the country and not in another. These channels can act as a deciding factor in which countries to export. A less complicated distribution channel with fewer intermediaries is always preferred. But that’s not always the case. To make it smooth, you need to create distribution channel contacts and relations to ensure your shipment reaches the point of distribution safely.
To understand it better, find the answer to questions like:
- What are the primary and shortest distribution channel in other countries for your product (could be through air, sea, or land route)? Is it cheaper than delivering at my local market?
- Are the expenses involved in the distribution channel worth it and cover the estimated income?
- What distribution channel do other companies adopt to deliver the same product as yours?
- What channel has the highest expected growth in the forecast period?
Study About The Product Trends And Consumer Trends
Product Trends
When researching product trends in a market research report sample, you should be able to answer questions like:
- The difference between the same product sold in different places. Why do people prefer the brand that is most sold?
- What is the difference in prices between your product and your competitor’s product?
- What are the existing packaging trends in the country?
Product trends study the existing trends in a place of your product. It researches the product packaging and labeling trends, pricing trends, product selling trends, and much more.
Consumer Trends
Consumer trends, on the other hand, work upon understanding the consumers of the country better. Now, a consumer is different from a customer. A consumer is the one that finally consumes or uses a product, whereas the customer is the one that is buying the product/service.
Knowing your potential customers is critical in consumer trends. You need to segment your users depending on various factors like sex, age, likes and dislikes, and such. When it comes to consumer trends, you would be able to answer questions like:
- Does the packaging of the product matters to the people of the country? Do they favor environmentally friendly packaging?
- Does your target audience use social media sites? Would digital marketing be any benefit for marketing the products?
- What are the expectations of consumers from your product?
- How big or large is your potential audience?
One of the primary market research fails is the name of Mc Donald’s Arch Deluxe. This was a burger designed by McDonald’s, especially for adults. However, they failed to understand the perspective of its consumer. They focused only on the size and taste of the burger and failed to consider the convenience of buying, i.e., budget.
Another customer trend that failed was the launch of Burger King’s satisfies. Maybe if the product had launched post-Covid when more people are concerned about their health and want to stay healthy, it would have been a success. Satisfries were the healthier version of normal French fries, made use of less oil in frying, and were a healthier version. However, Burger Kind failed to understand the consumer trends at that time. Also, it kept these fries expensive as compared to normal fries, making the product fail. It had to be later discontinued.
Check Out The Business Environment
The business environment is another external factor that affects business functioning. The key factors for judging a country’s business environment depend on the countries ease of doing business ranking, the regulations set up by the government for entry of foreign businesses, the country’s tax regime, and such.
When checking out the business environment, you should have answers to questions like:
- What is the productivity or growth rate of the country?
- How is the purchasing power of the citizens of the country?
- How smooth is the logistics in the country?
- What are the real estate prices in the country?
This business environment is ever-evolving. Staying updated with the changing trends is an important task to keep your product afloat in the market. One such failure in terms of not adapting to changing business environment is Kodak. Kodak failed to recognize the ease of taking photos. It focused more on the films used in cameras rather than on taking the photos themselves. It was unable to match up with the latest technological advancements in the field of photography.
Do Extra
All of the above were the basic steps to be followed and form part of a market research report sample. However, you need to do something extravagant to make your market research work better to stay ahead of time.
The web is a great place to know more about each market. With eh technology advancement, you can gather and explore better about your target market. To utilize the technological resources in the best possible manner, do extra during your market research like:
- Watching short market destinations videos
- Use market diversification tools to get the latest market recommendations and current trade patterns
- Gather all the trade data and essential statistics using necessary tools available online
- You can also search and get detailed information on your market using the U.S. ITA website.
- You can also find measures taken by each country related to antidumping, countervailing duty, and other foreign trade remedy actions online
Conclusion
Businesses usually fear when expanding their business internationally due to the global risks involved. However, by adopting a balanced approach with the help of a market research report sample, the risks can be minimized. Also, it is not wholly accurate that international expansion requires your business to be larger. Mc Cain, the frozen food expert, expanded its venture abroad while it was still young. Now, it has sales covered from every part of the world, making it one of the most prominent French Fry giants in the world.
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You might also enjoy these popular International Expansion related articles International Market Selection For Startups, What To Consider When Expanding A Business Internationally and Which Option Should You Use To Expand Internationally on the same topic.
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