Case Study: Market Assessment & Sizing

Our Client is a global producer and supplier of soda ash and associated alkaline products. Our Client had seen a demand for one of their products, in a relatively new application for them, grow substantially over the last 12 months but they were unable to grow sales in the sector due to lack of product. They therefore required market research to help them substantiate investment in a new production plant that would supply Europe and Africa. The key questions they wanted answers to included:

• Is the market big enough to interest us?
• Is the market moving in the right direction?
• Is the market moving fast enough?
• Is the market profitable enough?

Methodology

The market research methodology was designed with three stages. The first stage was to meet with our Client and find out what knowledge they had on the market already so as not to be going over the same ground within the research and ensure that we were all starting off from the same knowledge base.

The second stage was a desk research phase where we had to build up a list of targets who were currently using the product of interest/could use the product in the future. The desk research stage also contributed towards understanding the following:

• Who the competition was – who they are, how big they are, what products they produce, price differences
• The different products used and base data on the demand of the product in the different markets
• Data on channels to market – who are the main distributors

The desk research stage contributed around 20% towards the overall research findings.

The third stage of the research ‘The Fieldwork Stage’ involved speaking to the key targets (both users and potential users) throughout the different geographies of interest (a mixture of tele-depth interviews and face-to-face interviews). This was where the bulk of the research findings came from. The main objective of this stage was to:

• Confirmation of the potential market size and trends (as a cross check to the desk research)
• What are considered to be the strengths and weaknesses of the competing products used at the present
• What factors influence the decision to choose a certain type of product
• Delivery/availability requirements
• Attitudes to price
• What would prompt the purchase of a product– specifically offering new benefits?
• What potential could there be (in value terms) for such a product?

Findings & Research Benefits

The research showed that our Clients product had a number of strengths:

• It could generate substantial savings for any user (cost in use savings)
• It showed improved environmental benefits
• It could lead to improved efficiencies within the respondents operations

The research also found that there was an existing market big enough to verify investment in a new production plant and that the market showed continued growth over the next 10 years. The final market research deliverables included a workshop with the investment team to create customer value propositions for the market as well as pricing and promotion strategies. From the fieldwork stage we were able to create a ‘Hit List’ of key potential targets that our Client could approach with their product in the short term.