How to study the regional market of a product? In theory, we should follow the following steps:
Define the economic development level of the region. Is it a developed country, a developing country, or an underdeveloped country?
Determine from living habits, cultural traditions, and government policies whether the region currently uses the products produced by the company or similar products?
Find out the total population of the region and calculate its market capacity (the population and per capita GDP level of each country are in the appendix of this chapter).
Find out almost all importers, large wholesalers, large retailers, or influential end users in the market.
Contact these potential customers to further understand the market situation and the strength of their competitors.
Develop your own marketing strategy, including sales targets, market share targets, brand sales targets, key target agents, exhibition plans, customer visit plans, media advertising plans, packaging and transportation customization, price policies, product improvement plans, service standards and procedures, and later determine whether it is necessary to send personnel and establish branches.
Of the above steps, 1, 2, and 3 are relatively easy to solve, 4 tests our ability to obtain information, 5 tests our communication skills, and 6 tests our marketing capabilities.
How to do it specifically? Let’s take a look at the steps to solve the importer information problem:
First, let’s see if there is any customs information intelligence supply in the regional market. It is understood that the countries that can currently obtain customs records including the names of importers include: the United States, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, Ecuador, Panama, Russia, South Korea, India, Pakistan, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Honduras, etc. Among them, the quality of import customs data in the Americas (including North America and Central and South America) is the highest, followed by the United Kingdom. However, due to customs gray behavior or language problems, the availability of customs data in India, Russia, Ukraine, etc. is poor. Customers who need this type of data can contact the author’s company to obtain professional customs data procurement suggestions, and the author’s company can also purchase them on their behalf.
Secondly, use some more professional information database resources to query importer information, such as Kompass, World Buyer Network, etc.
You can add regional restrictions to the search methods mentioned above. For example, search for trade websites for regional markets, regional industry websites, regional market sections in global websites, etc.
Find market research agencies in the region. For example, the Central American market, the Andean market, the Central European market, and the Eastern European market, these markets may also find local market research agencies.
If the problem cannot be solved, you can finally seek help from trade promotion agencies and entrust friends to verify. For example, the African market and the Caribbean market, these markets have relatively backward media information and the Internet, so they have to use non-market means.