Hi, I'm Dmytro Shvets, your host at The Start Global Insights, where I interview experts in different countries about local business secrets and international expansion experience. Almost all foreign experts in my interviews say this magical phrase to the exporters – do your homework and research the market you are going to enter. Recently, I've had a workshop at the business school about international market strategy and of course repeated that obvious step to the participants.
And it turned out that there was a lack of understanding of how to analyze foreign markets. So I decided to devote this short explainer episode to the topic of market research. I will split this episode into three very easy steps that you can follow and do your market research quite easily.
I'll try to avoid complicated language or cliches, but if you would still have questions after that, please write me to email, social network or just leave a comment to the podcast transcript at the Start Global website. I will write all needed contacts in the show notes. I hope that till now you have already made your systematic choice of the focus countries so you know what market you need to research.
But if not, I would advise you to listen to the episode 13, the season 1 of this podcast where I explain how to choose your international expansion focus markets. But now to the topic of market research. Ready? Let's go! So, the first step you should take is similar to all series journeys. Right, that is to set the goals and questions to be answered. And the first question is the fabulous WHY. Ask yourself why you need to do this research and answer in a very detailed way.
After that, write down all the questions that you would need to clear up after analyzing the chosen market. In general, the research is done to understand the local rules of the game and create the market entry strategy based on the data and not on your guesses. And as you probably know, the strategy is an answer to the question of how you would go from the starting point to the desirable state in the future. And you should do it in the most effective way.
For you to remember where to look for the right questions more easily, here are the main keywords. WHO, WHAT and HOW. WHO is for the client, competitor or the other stakeholders. WHAT is for Payings, Needs, Solutions and Prices. And HOW is for the Channels, Logistics, Communication and Barriers. Step 2 is to define the sources of information, where you would look for the answers. In general, there are two types of sources, primary and secondary.
Primary research refers to the data directly from the source or stakeholders in the market. This can include customer surveys, competitor observations, focus groups or interviews with experts in your target audience. The data collected in this way is original and specific to your company and its goals. The best way to conduct interviews is in person, at trade shows, conferences or one-to-one meetings.
This way you can better control the conversation, read the body language, empathize and, the most important, build trust. However, in today's environment, a video call or phone call is also suitable. By the way, the first resistance I hear after such advice is why people should share the information with me. Well, first, people love to feel like experts. The main thing is to fuel such conversation with the right questions.
Second, you can motivate the interviewee by providing him or her with some value in return. For example, offer to share the summary of all interviews. Every distributor or dealer is always interested in the current state of affairs in his or her industry. And third, not obvious, but you can pay for such conversation. You can find such experts through local business communities, social media, forums and, in fact, directly from potential partners.
For example, just write to the distributor director or category manager on LinkedIn. And finally, you can listen to interviews with local experts that have already been conducted for you. For example, the Start Global Insights podcast. Secondary information sources include existing data, statistics, reports, research and publications that are available in open access for free or for fee upon request.
These sources can be useful for getting an overview of the market, analyzing trends and the market sizes, information about your competitors and other aspects that complement your primary data. You can use open data provided by government agencies, statistical offices, chambers of commerce and other sources. In my case, I usually start by looking for market reviews and statistics, for example, in Eurostat or World Bank and in reports of governmental expert development offices.
For example, the Office for the Expert Development of the United States or Australia or Poland or Ukraine. I also look information in local publications, business community reports. And what is also interesting as a source is the annual reports of public companies where they publish their strategies and market information. And then, having all this information about the general picture of the market, I compile a questionnaire for interviewing the local experts.
For your convenience, I will share some links to the popular open sources in the show notes to this episode. By the way, in fact, this is practically impossible not to do research when you are entering the market. After all, when you are entering the market at random, you are conducting an experiment, which is one of the methods of the market research.
However, if such an experiment is done unconsciously or without understanding of the goals of your research and without analyzing the results, such an experiment may lead to repeating the same mistake over and over again. Step three is to analyze and summarize. Very often, when I do the market research, I find myself endlessly searching for information.
Here is another source and another one, and this article is very interesting, and this part may give you some more understanding of the market, and it looks like a never-ending story. At some point, you need to say stop. Make sure that data answers all the questions that you have asked at the beginning of the research, and if it does, start analyzing and summarizing data you have found. First, organize and sort the data that you have collected.
For example, you can create a comparative table of all the numerical data. Look for patterns and trends in the data from surveys, articles, and existing research. For example, you may find that the most common distribution channel for your product is directly through dealer, without retail chain or the distributor, or that the income level of households corresponds to certain regions with increasing demand for your product.
Compare the offers of your competitors' prices, sales channels, and communication with each other. You can also perform a SWOT analysis, this is strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of your company in the selected market. Next, you can group the sorted data, for example, by the questions you created. Create a logical structure for the report. It should consist of a story with main conclusions. First, the main conclusions, and then their justification.
And so, after analysis and conclusions, you can proceed to create your expert strategy based on data and not on assumptions. Finally, remember that market research is not a one-time activity. Today's world is constantly changing, new needs are emerging, new value chains are being created, and the landscape of stakeholders, legislation barriers to market entry are disappearing and emerging.
So, the collection and analysis of the market information should become a continuous process that needs to be integrated into the life of your company. That's it for today. Hope this helps in your international expansion. And please leave me your feedback and questions to this episode on Apple Podcast, YouTube, StartGlobal website, or just write me an email. And of course, do not forget to subscribe to StartGlobal Insights on all major podcast platforms. See you soon!