Research checklist

Estimating market potential

Your country’s trade regulations

• Country restrictions
• Currency and tax regulations
• Licensing and other documentary requirements

Market access

• Tariffs and quotas (applying to your country; applying to other countries)
• Internal taxes
• Currency restrictions
• Health and safety regulations
• Political factors affecting access

Market size, patterns and growth

• Imports (volume, value, sources, trends)
• Consumption (volume, growth trends, geographic patterns, derived demand, market segmentation)
• Factors affecting demand (economic, climate and geographic, social and cultural)

Competition

• Domestic production, volume and growth
• Structure (identity, market shares, plant locations, capacity, plans)
• Strength (size, special advantages)
• Reasons for success
• Gaps in product lines
• Trademarks and patents

Price structure

• Prices to end-users
• Trade mark-ups
• Transport costs
• Ex-factory prices

Product requirements

The product

• Color
• Taste
• Size
• Design and styling
• Materials
• Performance characteristics
• Technical specifications
• Reasons for use
• Methods of use
• Conditions of use

Packing for shipment

• Transport methods
• Protective requirements
• Handling methods
• Storage conditions
• Marketing requirements

Industrial product pack

• Storage conditions
• Identification requirements
• How goods are dispersed from the pack
• Re-use, return or dispatch requirements

Consumer pack

• Protective requirements (storage and handling methods, in-store conditions)
• Information requirements (labeling regulations; language; consumer knowledge about the product)
• Merchandising requirements (display condition; size and shape preferences; desirable impressions; local reactions to trade names, color and symbols)
• Usage (dispensing requirements, home storage conditions, re-use or disposal requirements)
• Legal requirements (labeling, weight and measures, and materials)

Marketing practices

Transport

• Freight rates
• Speed and frequency
• Reliability
• Risks
• Packing requirements

Sales and distribution channels

• Normal channels for the product (for each element: function, share of sales, changes in importance)
• Alternative channels
• Advantages, disadvantages and feasibility of using normal or alternative channels
• Support functions performed by each element in the distribution channel (technical services, advertising and promotion, financial)
• Stock levels held by each element
• Delivery time requirements
• Mark-pus and discounts at each level
• Credit facilities and terms of sale expected
• Major distributors (profiles of the most important ones and those most suitable to handle your product: size of the firm, sales growth, product line, sales force, type of customers, geographic coverage, service facilities, position in the market, regulations, possible conflicts of interest, etc.

Pricing strategy factors

• Practical limits
• Supply of competing products
• Prices of competing products
• Likely reactions of competitors
• Product advantages

Services expected by buyers

• Technical advice
• Replacement of defective merchandise
• Guarantees
• Repair, maintenance and spare parts
• Training of operators

Advertising and sales promotion

• Amount of money being spent to support competing products (including expenditure as per cent of each company sales)
• Media and techniques mainly used, and the breakdown of expenditure among them
• Timing and geographic concentration
• Sales messages emphasized in advertising of important competitors
• Breakdown of expenditures between suppliers, distributors, retailers

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Source: International Trade Center