Exploring New Markets
The Situation
A business-to-business wireless caregiver call systems provider was seeking to more deeply penetrate the US market and expand internationally. It needed information to help boost its marketing message and more effectively communicate to end users.
Because the company sells through a network of distributors, but provides customer service at the caregiver facility level, it needed a greater understanding of the market in the US and abroad. The company had not yet operated on an international level, so it was imperative they have data surrounding the healthcare systems and the use of monitoring technology.
It’s all been very helpful! Where the rubber meets the road is where we are using this. We are putting together marketing and sales plans for our distributors in different states to enhance their efforts. And we are using this information to do that.
Our Unique Approach
When considering expansion into new geographic markets, it is important to understand whether the industry is growing or declining in that market. Our research specialists were able to provide industry growth rates for three different market segments, but also locate geographic hot spots. These hot spots included markets that currently have a high concentration of facilities, and markets that are growing the fastest.
To help facilitate the company’s international expansion, Access/Information was able to provide data on the healthcare systems of each European country of interest, as well as a breakdown of the population by age in each country. We also identified where center based living was increasing or decreasing to help the company decide which countries represent the best expansion potential.
In this industry, competition is based on product feature differentiation. To be competitive it is important to understand the product features offered by competing companies. Access/Information conducted competitive intelligence which outlined not only the competitors’ products and services, but also their go-to-market strategy.