By Joe Palermo
I don’t know if everyone’s workweeks are getting busier as we get closer to the holidays, but mine sure are. Maybe it’s because, as the year comes to an end, some market research departments are getting anxious to use up any remaining budget on useful new data that can help them get quick insights and set them up for possible new product or new market launches next year. Not a bad plan.
A CPG manufacturer that makes dips and spreads recently called me. It wanted to understand its competition in Europe and what kinds of sales were occurring with similar products. A Wall Street financial firm also contacted me on behalf of its manufacturer client about tracking sales of a particular brand of non-alcoholic drink mixer in several countries.
They were both trying to accomplish the same goal – finding new ways to grow.
In our current economy, CPG manufacturers and retailers have been hard pressed to find new growth and are frequently looking beyond their own geographical borders. The opportunities are not always very visible, but with the right data they can certainly be uncovered.
And it’s not just large global companies that need better data. Anyone who wants to start looking at new markets via exports needs to be able to objectively assess business opportunities in other places, including mid-market companies and/or those with highly niched products.
With global market data delivered in a report format, you can find out:
- Who is the competition in other countries?
- What is the size of the market there?
- What products are successful in other markets?
- How are the products priced?
- In which channels are the products available?
- Could a brand or company be a possible acquisition or partner?
The problem is that much of the data that is publicly available is outdated, limited in scope or depth, and/or skewed to a particular perspective depending on who is providing the data.
Getting access to customized retail census data collected from grocery, drug and other CPG retailers across the globe in an easy-to-use report format is a great way to help companies tackle a wide range of business growth decisions. But you need to make sure you get detailed information and receive it quickly, especially if you are going to be making key business decisions with it. Here are four things to look for with global retail market data reports:
- Make sure country market information across dimensions, such as product, measures (sales, shares), time and geography can be included.
- Good retail data providers should be able to get you point-of-sale data for brands and categories in different countries in less than a week.
- Report granularity should be customized to your specific needs, from the category level all the way down to individual items.
- Regardless of the number of countries you need data on, the information should be provided in a common report format with consistent pricing.
The result? Knowing which global markets to consider for a new product launch or expansion, who is the competition, what types of products/features are successful there, and why certain companies or brands could be an attractive partner or acquisition.
Sounds like a pretty easy route to help identify new growth opportunities for your business, especially before the end of the year.
Email me at Joe.Palermo@IRIworldwide.com to find out which brands, categories, channels and countries IRI tracks via our Global Executive Market Reviews (GEMs) so that you can get relevant market insights quickly delivered to you in an easy-to-read and easy-to-use report.