Capabilities / Market Entry / Brand Introduction
Bring a brand into a new market and get it trading.
This covers the whole distance between considering a market and operating in it. Scoped small, it is a research report that informs the decision. Scoped in full, it is the launch itself, through to a business trading under your brand.
What this is
One engagement that can start at a question and finish at an open store.
Brand Introduction is scoped to where you are. For a business still weighing a market, it produces the research and the commercial position needed to decide. For a business that has decided, it builds the entry and delivers it, up to and including a trading site operating under your brand.
The work in between covers positioning built for a market with no history of your brand, a price architecture that survives landed cost and local margin expectations, the regulatory position, the route to market, and the people who will run it once we step back.
Where the research says the market is not right, we say so, with the reasoning set out. That is a considerably cheaper outcome than discovering it after the first shipment lands.
A question to answer
The market is under consideration and you need research and a commercial position before capital is allocated to it.
An entry to build
The decision is made and the work is to construct the positioning, pricing, compliance position and route to first trade.
A launch to deliver
You want the market opened and trading, including the site, the stock, the team and the operating rhythm behind it.
What the work covers
From research through to an operating business in the market.
An engagement is scoped from these components. Some businesses take the first two and stop there, and others take all six through to opening.
Market and category research
What the category looks like in this market, who holds it, at what price points, and where a brand like yours has room to sit.
Commercial position
Landed cost, margin expectations through the channel, resulting retail price and the volume and investment the entry requires.
Positioning and range
How the brand presents in a market with no history of it, and the range built for the customer who lives there rather than the one at home.
Route and compliance
Distribution, wholesale, marketplace or own retail, with product safety, labelling, documentation and import requirements resolved against the trading date.
Launch delivery
Site selection and fit out where the entry includes physical retail, stock and supply arranged, and the launch run to a plan with owners against it.
Trading operations
The systems, reporting, standards and trained team that let the market trade to your expectations once the launch is behind it.
How an engagement runs
Three stages, and you can stop after any of them.
Each stage is scoped and delivered on its own terms, so the decision to continue is made with the previous stage in hand rather than ahead of it.
Market research
- Category, competitor and channel review in the target market
- Landed cost and price architecture modelled through to retail
- Regulatory requirements identified with their lead times
- Viable routes to market assessed against your brand
- Written report with a commercial position and recommendation
Delivered as a standalone report that stands on its own and is yours to act on however you choose.
Entry build
- Positioning and range built for the market being entered
- Pricing and margin structure agreed across the channel
- Compliance work carried through to a cleared position
- Route to market secured, whether partner, wholesale or own retail
- Launch plan with owners, dependencies and a trading date
Scoped after the research, so the commitment is defined in full before any work begins.
Launch and trade
- Site selection, fit out and opening where the entry includes retail
- Stock, supply and first orders placed and landed
- Systems, reporting and trading standards put into operation
- Recruitment and training for the team running the market
- Handover once the market is trading to the agreed plan
For businesses that want the market opened and operating rather than only planned.
Who this is for
Built for brands taking a considered position on a new market.
This service suits businesses with a product that performs in its home market and a genuine intention to trade somewhere new. Where you start depends on how settled the decision is, and the engagement is scoped to match rather than to a fixed package.
What we bring is operating knowledge of the market being entered. Not a report assembled from public sources, but a position built by people who have run trade in the market and can carry the entry through to an operating business.
- You are evaluating a market and need research before capital is committed
- Your pricing works at home and you need to know where it lands once landed cost is applied
- The decision is made and you need the entry built rather than advised on
- You want one team from research through to an open and trading site
- You would rather learn the market is wrong now than after the first shipment
Start here
Tell us your market and how far you want to take it.
A scoping conversation establishes what has already been decided, what is still assumption, and which stage of this work is the right place to start.