Customer-Led Strategy Market entry
Should we enter this market, and how?
Customer-led market entry answers whether a market is worth entering, and how, by asking the people who would have to buy from you there. Instead of sizing the opportunity from desk research, MindMarket goes into the market itself and finds out what those customers do today, what would have to change for them to choose you, and what the local competitors already own in their minds. The result is a clear route in, with the evidence behind it, or an honest recommendation not to go.
THE SITUATION
Is this your situation?
- You have a shortlist of markets and a business case that rests on assumptions nobody who lives there has ever checked.
- The market looks identical to one you already win in, and something about that similarity keeps bothering you.
- Somebody senior has already decided you are going, and you would rather know what you are walking into before you arrive.
HOW WE WORK
How does MindMarket approach market entry?
- We separate the four decisions hiding inside "should we enter". Entry is four questions wearing one coat: whether to go at all, where exactly, with what proposition, and against whom. We pull them apart at the start, because they have different answers and need different evidence, and a project that treats them as one question tends to answer none of them well.
- We go and listen, in that market, in that language. We run the fieldwork in the market itself, with researchers who live there rather than a subcontracted panel, and we speak to three groups: people who already buy in the category, customers of the competitors you would face, and the people who have chosen neither. That is where the true picture of the market lives.
- We rank the routes in, with the trade-offs written out. We tell you which entry route the evidence supports, what it depends on, and what it would cost you to get wrong. For the routes we do not recommend, we say what would need to happen for them to turn out to be the better choice.
THE DELIVERABLE
What do you get?
- A clear recommendation on entry, with the evidence for it and the evidence against it side by side.
- The proposition that local customers responded to, in their own words.
- A plain account of what the local competition already owns in customers' minds, and what is still free for you to claim.
- The two or three assumptions in your business case that the evidence does not support, named before they cost you anything.
- All of it as a Decision Case: one short written recommendation on the decision above, with the evidence under each claim, in a form your board can act on.
METHODS
Which research methods do you use for market entry?
Usually a combination of focus groups, in-depth interviews and ethnographic research, chosen for the market and the decision rather than for our convenience.
QUESTIONS
Strategy questions, answered straight
How do you research a market before entering it?
We research a market by going into it: focus groups and in-depth interviews with the customers you would have to win, run by researchers who live there, in the local language, plus time in the stores, homes or venues where the category is bought. The work answers four questions in order: whether the market wants what you sell, where exactly the demand sits, which proposition local customers respond to, and who you would be taking share from. Desk research sizes the opportunity; this tells you whether it is yours.
How many markets can one entry study cover, and how long does it take?
One entry study can cover as many markets as the decision touches; two to four is typical, with one shared design so the markets can be compared. A single-market entry question runs as First Listen in two to three weeks. A multi-market programme with a decision workshop runs as Deep Listen, eight to twelve weeks. Recruitment in a market where you have no presence is the step that sets the pace.
Can you work in markets where we have no presence at all?
Yes, and that is the usual case. We run fieldwork in 60+ countries with local researchers, which is exactly the part most firms subcontract and we do not.
We have already decided to enter. Is this still worth it?
Often more so. The decision to go is rarely the expensive one. The expensive decision is how, and that is precisely where local evidence pays for itself.
What does market entry research cost?
Market entry research is priced per market, and the ranges are open on our pricing page: the first market carries the study design, each additional market adds the local recruitment, moderation and translation. Most entry decisions run as Deep Listen; a one-market check runs as First Listen. The strategy work is quoted after the framing conversation, and your itemised quote arrives within 48 hours.
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