Introduction

A leading multinational printer company sought to review its current distributors in a fast-developing country in Asia. The client's current distributors, who have distributed the client's product for some time, have not been performing as well as expected despite a prospering economy and other positive macro-environmental factors in the target country which should have led to a better sales performance. The client wanted to investigate a specific target customer segment and to find a potential new distribution partner who is strong in this segment.

About the Client

The client is a renowned printer manufacturer whose printing technology enables high-speed, high-quality printing at low cost.

Business Issue

The client needed (1) to evaluate the market potential and the needs of the potential customers in the target segment in the target country and (2) to find distributors who could strengthen both sales and distribution in the target country and in the target customer segment. The client approached Ipsos Business Consulting to request assistance with these issues.

Ipsos Business Consulting Solution

Since the client had two separate but associated issues concerning different stakeholders in the target country, Ipsos Business Consulting employed different approaches and methodologies to address these issues.

Regarding market potential and the needs of target customers, Ipsos Business Consulting divided the target customer industry into sub-segments and conducted a detailed quantitative study with a large number of users in each subsegment to generate results representative of the total market needs, U&A, etc.

Regarding identification of new distribution partners, Ipsos Business Consulting discussed and prioritised the client's various partnership criteria and used the multi-stage Partner-Compass tool to weigh these criteria to screen and identify several target companies that fit the client's requirements.

Results

Ipsos Business Consulting prepared a thorough analysis of the target market to assist the client in setting up a product and market expansion strategy. A shortlist of target distributors was also generated and Ipsos Business Consulting introduced them to the client for further discussions regarding co-operation opportunities.