At the end of this course you will understand basic principles, steps and benefits of market analysis. You will be able to execute own market analysis, or identify and approach available support services on European Single Market. You will be able to analyse your potential foreign markets (i.e. understand main trends, demand, competitors and prices) using available online tools. You will be able to understand localization, its levels and options, will learn dos and don’ts of successful localization, and understand role of country brand name. You will be familiar with good practices how to earn references, boost customer reviews, improve your credible and trustworthy online image, and build an outstanding seller profile on online marketplace. You will be familiar with process how to select partners in foreign markets to support your business internationalization and competitiveness.
Description:
•It’s good to start this training fiche with explaining what localization actually means. Localization is the customization of all components of a product for a particular target market. These components include:Â
oproduct itself,
ocustomer service,Â
oany printed or online documentation related to the product,Â
oonline presentation and websites,Â
oadvertising campaigns, and
oany other marketing communication materials for the product.
Course contents:
Module 1 - Basics of market analysis for internationalization & competitiveness
•It’s good to start this training fiche with explaining what localization actually means. Localization is the customization of all components of a product for a particular target market. These components include:Â
oproduct itself,
ocustomer service,Â
oany printed or online documentation related to the product,Â
oonline presentation and websites,Â
oadvertising campaigns, and
oany other marketing communication materials for the product.
•The actual extent to which you localize your product may vary. There are three main alternative approaches for competing internationally with this respect:Â
1)A multidomestic strategy, i.e. a think-local, act-local approach to set the international strategy for entering foreign markets. This approach is appropriate for cases that require varying product offerings and competitive approaches from country to country in order to adjust to different customer preferences and market conditions.
2)A global (or international, if we consider smaller extent of internationalization) strategy, i.e. a think-global, act-global approach. This approach characterizes an internationalization strategy that works best when there are benefits to be gained from taking a standardized and globally integrated approach and, at the same time, there is little or no need for responding any specific local customer preferences.
3)A combination think-global, act-local approach, also known as a transnational strategy. This approach is required when there is a high need for local responsiveness as well as substantial benefits from taking a globally integrated approach. It is the most challenging international strategy to implement, and it can be used when it is feasible to use essentially the same basic competitive strategy in all markets but still customize its product offering and some other aspect of its operations to fit local market requirements.
•Do research online - check local and relevant international online marketplaces, specialized websites devoted to arts & crafts in target countries, as well as websites of arts & crafts shops. Observe whether and how your product is present on the market.
•Find a partner abroad - approach a local retailer or arts & crafts shop owner with experience. He/she should be able to estimate whether and how your product could be successful on the market, and what are the eventual requirement for its localization.
•Participate on a fair or market - if it is geographically, linguistically and financially feasible, visit the target foreign country to present and sell your products on an arts & crafts fair. Talk with people attending your stall and get as much information and feedback as possible. There is no need to go to big and fancy events, local markets in small towns and villages usually attract enough visitors who will provide you feedback. Also, fees to sell on such markets are usually affordable. Of course, you need to speak an international language, and any knowledge of local language is a huge advantage.
•Some arts & crafts items are particularly typical and traditional for their country of origin, while some can be considered rather universal, without attachment to any specific country. One of the questions you can consider when planning an expansion to foreign market is the country brand name. In particular, you might either use the power of your country’s brand name, or, on the other side, to completely ignore or even hide the country of origin, as country brand name influences consumer preference for products and services
•When customers see a specific country name, they have certain associations in their minds that help them, for example, when deciding to purchase products coming from that country. Thus, you may want to consider whether and how your country’s brand might influence your potential customers.
•For illustration on the power of countries’ brand names, FutureBrand, a creative agency, regularly prepares the Country Brand Index. In its 2014-2015 edition, following European countries have been classified in TOP 10 according to strength of their brand name:
oSwitzerland (1st in Europe, 2nd worldwide)
oGermany (2nd in Europe, 3rd worldwide)
oSweden (3th in Europe, 4th worldwide)
oNorway (4th in Europe, 6th worldwide)
oDenmark (5th in Europe, 9th worldwide)
oAustria (6th in Europe, 10th worldwide)
•Here are several issues you should consider when thinking of whether to emphasize your country of origin when attempting to attract the customers on a foreign market:
oHow do customers in the target foreign country perceive your home country and its brands? In this case, it is not just customers’ attitudes toward the country in general that matter, but it is also important to consider the country’s reputation related to arts & crafts products, as country brands are perceived to have expertise across categories.
oHow do customers in the target foreign country perceive their own country and its brands? At a first glance it may seem counter-intuitive, but many people in some countries show negative attitudes about the ability of their fellow countrymen to make quality products.
oHow would entering a new country change your personal seller’s image? If you fail to provide the quality customers associate with your country’s brand name, the benefits of the brand name’s promise may quickly be lost.  Living up to your brand name’s promise can help you increase your chances of successfully entering a foreign market, and also facilitate potential expansion in the future.
•Localization has a lot to do with language issues, as in multilingual Europe your potential foreign market customers will probably speak different language than is your mother tongue. Depending on the scope of the localization, you have a few options how to cope with language issues: coping with them internally or asking for an external help (e.g. hiring a translator). Also, larger scale export focus (i.e. exporting to more countries) may require more single language vendors or engaging one or few multilingual vendors. However, each option has some disadvantages:
oDealing with localization internally - besides your comprehensive knowledge of your products and possibly also about your potential target foreign market, your everyday tasks and responsibilities would slow down the localization process. To handle the localization yourself, you not only need to be proficient in the specific language but you must also have an understanding of the cultural nuances. Also, you may not have the skill for translation as does a professional, native translator. If you decide to localize the product in additional languages, you would need to have the ability to translate several other languages as well as an understanding of the technical issues of localization.
oHiring an external translator - a general translator or translation firm may provide a quality translation but it may not have the technical expertise necessary to produce successful localization.
oSingle language vendor - this type of vendor may have expertise in a specific language or market but managing the cooperation may be difficult. If you aim to enter more markers, you will be duplicating your efforts in terms of communicating with more than one vendor. If you become more successful and your market grows, you will probably need to expand to other languages to serve customers in more countries.
oMultilingual vendor - this type of vendor is considered a full-service localization vendor who will provide linguistic and technical expertise as well as international project management experience for as many languages as you need. If you decide for such cooperation, your vendor should be a partner that understands your marketing strategy for each target market. Since they are the only vendor that will manage the project, this vendor must be chosen very carefully. During your selection process, you should: check the vendor?s references, visit the production sites, research whether your vendor has experience in localizing arts & crafts or similar types of product, and discover whether or not they truly have the required technical expertise.
•Here are some recommendations you should follow when planning and implementing your localization project:
oDo plan your localization project to keep the balance of time, cost and quality.
oDo research your local competitors in each target foreign market. They will generally have a better understanding of native culture and therefore be targeting more locally relevant keywords.
oDo demonstrate understanding of the customer. Rather than using a generic keyword in hopes that it is used universally, international localization demonstrates the importance of the customer through the research and understanding of each cultural market.
oDo show your customers how to use your product if they are not familiar with it. If your product is new to foreign market (hand-crafted ceramic utensil to separate egg yolks from white may not be well known in all European countries), inspire and instruct your potential customers how to use and benefit from your product.
•On contrary, make sure to avoid following “Don’ts” of localization:
oDon’t use translations without understanding cultural significance. You can find tens of marketing horror stories in which companies simply translated their standard campaign without checking the local implications
oDon’t use automated translation (e.g. Google Translate) without having the text checked. Also in such translation some ideas or sentence meanings may get lost, so even if you have someone checking it, he/she may not get your original point. To see how machine translation can?t be trusted, check out Translation Party (www.translationparty.com). It takes a sentence and translates it into multiple languages and then back to its original language. The result is sometimes surprising.
oDon’t use your or your product’s brand name without verifying its cultural or language connotation in foreign language.
Indicators
Bibliography
Hisrich, R. D. (2013). International Entrepreneurship. Starting, Developing and Managing a Global Venture. 2nd edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Longenecker, J.G. et al (2016). Small Business Management. Launching&Growing Entrepreneurial Ventures. 18 e. Boston, MA, USA: Cengage Learning.Â
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Title:
THINKING LOCALLY ON FOREIGN MARKETS
Keywords
market analysis, customers, competition, trends, barriers, partners, support, online tools, localization, language, brand name, references, reviews
Author:
Comenius
Languages:
English
Description:
Module 1 - Basics of market analysis for internationalization & competitiveness
UNIT 1 - THINKING LOCALLY ON FOREIGN MARKETS