Working out potential demand in foreign markets
as well as how much you might sell, is key to export planning.
A great place to start is to understand who might use your product or service.
Let’s look at how you might research them.
What are your customers like?
Build a picture of who your current customers are.
Consider their age, gender, income or spending power.
Think how they buy your product- is it online or in a shop?
And ask why they want it - is it a luxury item or a necessity?
Compare your customers
Research if there are similarities between your existing customers
and those in the target market.
Use online resources, such as country fact sheets to
determine the numbers of potential buyers.
Statistics and consumer opinion
Investigate import statistics.
How do they compare with local suppliers and what is consumer opinion?
You can also find information in social media, blogs and forums.
Business analytics
Finally, revisit your own business.
Use analytics on your website to see where visitors are from.
You may discover that some consumers are from
a country that has not been able to provide what they need locally.