Steps in Accessing and Entering Market
Steps in Accessing and Entering Market
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Steps of Accessing and Entering a New Market
Introduction
A successful company must have a well marketing plan. The primary content of the marketing plan should explain how the company plans to extend the markets of its products into a new market. The new market here may mean a country, a region or a section of segmented target group. Once a business has established and begins to flourish, it gets the right time to extend its branches into new markets (Pride & Ferrell, 2008). This is because, at this stage, the business is stable and is in a position to meet the needs and necessities of the customers. Venturing into a market usually encounter many obstacles that call for designing guiding steps.
I am planning to venture into a textile industry in the northern Tanzania. The company will majorly deal in manufacturing and selling linen suits. Since my company is making its debut in this country, the following steps in marketing will be my priority.
Market Definition and Market Indicators
Even though marketing linen cloths in this country may appear simple, it is sometimes not easy to know the need of customers unless one meet and understands their needs. Market definition is the initial stage in venturing into a new market; it involves identifying the location, demographic and the interest of the customers. This process calls for commitment in order to capture a larger share of the market.
In the case of my linen suits promotion, it is advisable first to handle a smaller chunk of the market in order to create high demand for the product (Pride & Ferrell, 2008). This initial step calls for proper setting of timelines that helps in quicker achievement of desired targets and assessment of the results. Market indicators like market growth, market size are used to rank the market, and they assist in determining the size of market one is handling.
Identification of entry points
After defining the market for linen suits, the next step is identifying the market entry points. This step involves describing Tanzania in terms of its geographical coverage and the existence of related textile products in the market. Prior identification of market entry point will help in minimizing the cost of investments and increases the volume of output. The advantages and disadvantages of each entry points should be weighed so as to help in arriving at an informed decision (Pride & Ferrell, 2008). The chosen entry point should be the one that allows the possibility of future growth both internally and along the market borders.
The selected entry point should be checked and assessed against a set of agreed criteria, for example, the possibility of penetrating underserved markets, need for fulfillment, need for decision making among others. This is significant as it makes it easy to evaluate the performance of the product in the market.
Assembling of the Plans
This is the third step. Here, marketing plan, campaigns, advertisements, and timelines are set into motion. It requires that all targets and campaigns to be channeled to the right departments for full possession and transparency during performance evaluation.
Research
After assembling the plans, a well-planned market approach that ensures minimum risk encounter while entering the market should be set in. A thorough market research then follows to strengthen and support this plan. A good market research that divides the target group into segments and meeting them in person or through online survey is highly recommended at this stage. A good research should be able to gather information about the product which can be fed into the data for adjustment. Research helps in determining the behavior of the local market, the cultural practices and possible technical difficulties. People’s culture in this region of Tanzania may hinder the demand for linen suit, and proper market research should identify these problems in advance.
Screening and Pilot Program
The best way to mitigate the risks when making a market debut is to conduct a pilot test of the product. The pilot program should be done with great care to ensure the result is accurate as it gives a reflection of the larger market. When the pilot program offers some positive milestone steps, other minor problems can be jumped before the commitment to the market. A pilot program helps in market screening. Screening process contributes to eliminate unfavorable environmental factors that can put a hindrance to product in the market. (Pride & Ferrell, 2008).
Trend Analysis
Upon reaching this stage, one is fully armed with a refined plan of action, best market research, and products of each phase (Pride & Ferrell, 2008). The textile industry is now set to go and seek more markets shares. At this stage, the goal should not be to generate more market revenue, but to increase market shares as increasing the market share will automatically double the sales effort. Increasing the volume of linen suits will leads to more sales as there will be many visible brands in the market. In this step, previous market trends are used in analyzing the potentials of market demands. When the previous market trends show that there is more demand, then there should be adjustments or maintaining current trend market trends.
Exit strategy
It is always advisable that when a product enters a market, one should prepare for both success and failure. Most investors prepare for massive success. In the case of success, there should be an option of continued existence in the market or moving to another new market. On the same note, the investors should also prepare for the action to take in the case of market failure. Exit strategy plans should be put in place before one venture into a new market.
In conclusion, if one observes and practices the essential steps in accessing a market, there will be no reasons to fail. Care should be observed in each step because failure to implement one step may lead to a total failure of the entire process.
Reference
Pride, W. M., & Ferrell, O. C. (2008). Foundations of marketing. Boston, Mass: Houghton Mifflin.
