MarketLinked Market Research
MarketLinked - Market Research
Focus and objectives
The proposed market research is simple in its focus.
* The research will outline the dynamics and structure of the market for food and food products in a regional market and identify the most important players.
* It will assess the short to medium term sales opportunities and identify potential customers and real sales opportunities for the Ugandan participants.
The research will have four objectives.
* To establish if a sales mission to the selected regional market is a viable option to generate sales in the short to medium term.
* To establish the dynamics of the market to identify the most appropriate entry point/s for partner country suppliers.
* To establish the most appropriate market entry strategy for the partner country exporter group.
* To identify interested and appropriate businesses and individuals in the selected regional market, who are prepared to meet the selected export suppliers and believe there is a reasonable prospect of business arising in the short term.
Undertaking the market research
The market research will be undertaken by a consultant. A local market-based consultant will also be appointed in the selected regional export market to assist the research and, eventually, support implementation of the sales mission. The local knowledge is critical.
The export companies will provide product samples, brochures and export price lists as appropriate to allow putative customers to make a realistic preliminary judgement on the prospects for business.
The tasks to be undertaken by the research team are:
* Identify a long list of putative customers for each participant.
* Contact and brief these on the proposed mission and its members to establish interest in meeting the exporters.
* Arrange a firm appointment with appropriate exporters and confirm this in writing. Where practicable the appointments should be in the putative customers’ premises to allow the exporting company to form a judgement on the character and type of enterprise it is meeting.
* Finalise an itinerary of appointments for each participant. Each participant should have approximately six appointments with appropriate trade contacts with which there is a realistic prospect of business in the short to medium term.
Following the research a short note will be written on each meeting that will be the basis of briefing the exporters. This will focus on buyer reaction to product quality, price, packaging, sanitary and any other key issues.
Participating companies for which no realistic business prospects are uncovered will be advised to withdraw from the market development exercise.
Any companies which fall into this category will be strongly encouraged to continue participation in the skills transfer/management development workshops. Despite an unsatisfactory outcome from the market research, ongoing participation in the MarketLinked programme will generate considerable benefits to any company.