New market development is a task in itself. It’s the smart managers who understand the need to engage in a methodological and extensive analysis before appointing a sales partner. They understand the value of following a methodological approach to this thereby avoiding wrong starts, jeopardising the whole strategy, and the cost associated with distributor terminations down the road. In India, this exercise gets even more relevant due to the changing geography & culture every hundred miles, leading to a completely new profile of the end consumer, each time we reach a new town or a city.
Further the real performer is the one who knows the underlying currents of the market. For example he/ she is aware of the fact that despite price sensitivity there are people who would pay for the quality, their pockets allow such purchases. This clarity of the distributor is, in fact, the most fundamental to their ability of serving foreign Principals. Next is the ability of the distributor to push for new products on the shelves which is possible only when they share a good rapport with them – if they’ve served them well, paid them time or facilitated good margins and offers from time to time, so on & so forth.
On the other hand distributors have also become very meticulous in their search for new brands and supplier partnerships and are looking for companies & brands that apply stringent and proven methodologies to their distributor search, selection and management efforts as they see this as being essential for the long term success of the partnership.
Thus, to ensure market entry remains a successful activity, an utmost dedication & sincerity is needed during the phase of identification & selection of your new local partner. He now holds the key of the brand’s future, at least some years. We, at MCG, ensure the methodology remains a a transparent, effective & implementable scheme of inputs, having clear response to our researched data. It’s imperative to keep the whole exercise as objective as possible by designing measures, of data recording & collection, which is not influenced by the potential distributor or his affiliates, in order to know the actual capabilities of the potential partner.
Then we have to dig deep into the intentions of the partner and explore his willingness to cooperate. Whether he want to add just another principal/ product to his portfolio or he has a clear plan/ roadmap in mind for the new entrant. MCG here knows what to be done in order to handpick the right partners. Contact us at [email protected] to know more about this topic.
