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15 Innovative Approaches To Improve Your Market Study.

Most small businesses are started with inadequate market studies or with none at all. 

 Yet a market study is almost the only way to support your income (sales) projections and your marketing plan. 

 the two most important products had very low market potential. If the entrepreneur had equipped his plant before finding this out, he would have had a major problem. 

 The other two products had fairly high market potential, and because of the study, he knew how to market them and to whom to sell them.

 The following is a topical outline for a report on the market for any product being exported from one country to another. 

 If you can produce or buy this kind of information before you begin, you might decide to try another product or another market. 

 If you decide to go ahead, your chances of success will be increased considerably. 

 Moreover, a solid market study looks very good to potential investors and lenders.

Basic Information

  • Product name and HS number
  • Country of origin, exporting country, importing country

Regulations

  • Exporting country controls and taxes
  • Importing country controls and taxes
  • Import restrictions, quotas, and so forth
  • Import duties
  • Marketing and labeling laws
  • Other regulations

Supply and Demand

  • Availability of supply in the exporting country
  • Domestic production less imports in the importing country (five years’ statistics with trend calculation
  • Imports for consumption (five years’ statistics with trend calculation)
  • Percent of product for consumption that is imported
  • Industry experts’ perception of current and future supply and demand in the importing country
  • Selected buyers’ perceptions of same

Competition

  •  Survey of producers in the importing country
  •  Description of selected producers
  • Sources of imports (countries), with import market share of each
  • Average FAS and CIF prices from each country

Target Markets

  • The market and market segments
  • Characteristics of important market segments
  • Kinds of industrial users
  • Main industrial users and a brief description of each

Product Description

  • Main types/varieties of the product
  • Required or desired product characteristics
  • Required or desired packaging and labeling

Distribution

  • Normal distribution system in the importing country
  • Principal importers and wholesalers
  • Principal industrial distributors

Pricing

  • Representative prices and markups at each level in the channel
  • Price trends
  • Discounts used in the trade

Promotion

  • Methods of promotion used in the trade
  • Promotional assistance usually expected of exporters
  • Approximate costs of this assistance

Logistics

  • Steamship lines and airlines serving the route
  • Usual method of shipping this product
  • Availability of vessels (planes) and cost of shipping
  • Shipping term normally used
  • Payment term normally used

Other Considerations

  • Local laws on the product, label, distribution, pricing, promotion
  • Distributors’ and consumers’ openness to new suppliers
  • Image of exporting country in the importing country

Sources of Industry Information

  • Industry experts including consultants
  • Associations and trade publications
  • Trade exhibits
  • “Off-the-shelf” market study reports
  • Government organizations
  • Other information sources
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