Export Market Census

Sensus, as a marketing tool, is effective for various markets, including export markets.

Companies working with mass-market products or services actively use a market research tool called territory sensing. It is most often used in existing markets to assess business development opportunities and sales growth. However, sensus has also proven itself well when studying new markets. If an enterprise is considering entering export markets, conducting a sensus will help build an export strategy more effectively.

Offline Sensus of Export Markets

The "good old" way of conducting sensus. This is what we most often mean when talking about territory sensing. It implies that market information is collected directly "physically" on-site.

For this, it is necessary that the people conducting this sensus are present in the country. These can be trade representatives in the territory (if the company is already operating in the market), employees of potential partners, but most often special agents are hired on a paid basis, who can be either individuals or legal entities, i.e., marketing agencies.

For an organization that is just planning to export to a specific market, the latter option is usually applicable. Working with marketing agencies and individuals has its advantages and disadvantages. The main difference lies in the budget – "engaging" a specialized company will always be more expensive, but the guarantees of a quality result are higher, especially if the understanding of the market is weak and remote quality control of the work is problematic.

On the other hand, when a company is already familiar with the market and clearly understands what information is needed for management decisions, then interacting with individuals can be justified. In the future, they will be able to perform other tasks in the territory, and it will be easier to agree on that.

When choosing a person to conduct a sensus of an export market, they usually focus on a local resident who knows the country, language, and specifics of the local market well. This is reasonable, but a more correct option (all else being equal) can be to contact an expatriate for whom Russian is a native or very familiar language. This simplifies communication, makes it easier to set the task, and even clarify the technical specifications to improve work efficiency. Of course, this agent must also be fluent in the local language, but this is usually not a problem for those who have lived in a country for a certain time.

Such people can be found through social networks popular in the country of interest. Often, based on the information there and even tags, a list of those who can help solve the existing market sensus problem can be formed, and then during communication, all details can be clarified and one or several most relevant persons for solving the task can be selected.

At the same time, it is important to properly build the interaction process, especially regarding the acceptance of work results and payment for services rendered. Prepayment is undesirable, as it can negatively affect the timing and quality of work. Usually, payment is made in parts as information is provided and verified. Technically, payments are most often made through electronic wallets, which increases the cost of work for companies - this needs to be calculated in advance.

Offline sensus is universal in terms of market geography and their product specialization. But this type of territory sensing is particularly important for countries where the electronic segment of trade is underdeveloped. Or for goods that are mainly sold through offline sales channels. There are also cases where e-commerce is developed in a country, but the product is more oriented towards traditional retail – small shops, markets, etc. For example, such a situation is often encountered when entering the markets of Middle Eastern countries – Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, etc.

It should also be kept in mind that conducting a sensus should be preceded by market research in a desk format. Without this, it is extremely difficult to draw up a competent sensus program that will yield reliable and complete results. Primarily, desk research allows determining the profiles of sensus objects, setting qualitative and quantitative observation parameters, and clarifying questions if they are assumed within the sensus framework.

Thus, offline sensus retains its importance in the modern world, and for certain product and geographical markets, it is essentially an irreplaceable method of collecting primary information. At the same time, companies increasingly have alternatives to conduct sensus in an online format. And this should be used.

Online Sensus of Export Markets

What should be understood by online sensus of export markets? First of all, these are information collection tools that do not require physical presence in the target country. And we should start with the analysis of Internet sources.

Today, almost all retailers have online stores. Marketplaces, where leading manufacturers, including importers, are represented, have become widespread. Therefore, it is possible to collect the assortment and prices of mass-market products without leaving one's office. This information will be more relevant the higher the share of online sales in the total sales volume in a particular country. Also, goods and services sold in the e-commerce environment are well suited for online sensus. In general, retail offerings are well "transparent," so there are no problems with data collection.

The situation is more complicated with wholesale sales and B2B markets, but conducting offline sensus here is also not easy. In such cases, inquiries are applicable, which are again collected in the online environment through email correspondence and communication. In addition to mail services, messengers and social networks are actively used, especially those specialized for business communication. Good electronic platforms for collecting information about assortment and prices in the wholesale sales channel can be country-specific and international portals where offers for bulk sales and requests for relevant goods are posted.

If a company is focused on working in tender sales channels, especially in the field of public procurement, then online sensus is the preferred option for collecting data about such a market segment. More and more countries are switching to electronic trading, providing access to both procurement statistics for the previous period and results of individual competitive procedures. Registration is often required, but this restriction can be bypassed in various ways, including through a partner in the target country.

In addition to working with Internet sources (websites and mobile applications), interaction in social networks and messengers can be attributed to online sensus tools, where a large volume of commercially significant information is collected through communication with reference sources. One should not forget about traditional telephone communication, which is also closer to the online work format than offline.

Thus, using online territory sensus tools, a large array of information can be collected for various purposes. At a minimum, this data can be used for prioritizing country markets based on price criteria. Secondly, they allow for a general calculation of the financial model of an export transaction and properly organize the pricing process in relation to the sales channels for which information is available online.

If the situation allows, online sensus provides an information base for conducting competitive analysis, which will then form the basis of the company's pricing policy in the export market and marketing strategy. Furthermore, it helps find potential partners for organizing product sales.

Traveling to the Country to Conduct Sensus

Another specific option for conducting sensus of an export market, which can be considered a subtype of the classic offline sensus, is the travel of company representatives to the country for independent analysis of the situation in the local market.

The main difference is that the sensus is conducted by representatives of the enterprise's delegation, usually managerial staff. Often, this includes the company director and heads of commercial, marketing, and other services and departments. On the one hand, this improves the quality of the research, as experience and a high level of interest yield results. On the other hand, such sensus have a much smaller coverage, which can affect the representativeness of the conclusions. As an analogy, one can cite a situation where a regional sales manager comes for an inspection, for example, to a certain city. Naturally, due to time constraints and the interest of the host party to show the "territory" in a certain light, the manager's subjective opinion may not be entirely correct. And this affects the decisions they make. Similarly, in the case of a field sensus, it is not always possible for managerial staff to quickly form an adequate understanding of market development in a particular territory.

As a rule, trips abroad do not have sensus as their main goal. It serves as an additional option when visiting a country within a set business program.

Most often, enterprise delegations travel as part of business missions. They can be organized as official events, for example, within the framework of supporting the export activities of Russian companies through the Russian Export Center or regional export support centers. In this case, it is necessary to plan time in advance to "walk the ground" and obtain valuable information, especially if the trip is long-distance. Alternatively, the business mission is organized by the enterprise independently as a series of meetings with potential partners, customers, etc. Then it is much easier to allocate time for market research, including in the mode of joint work with promising counterparts. The main thing is that they do not influence the objectivity and completeness of the information received. So, it is better to create the schedule for visiting retail outlets independently.

Another type of field event that provides an opportunity to conduct territory sensus is international exhibitions and fairs. Firstly, exhibition and fair events themselves are places where a certain cross-section of the market can be observed. Especially if the company operates in the B2B market.

Secondly, exhibitions last a long time, so within their schedules or by arriving early / staying a bit longer, there is an excellent opportunity to conduct territory sensus. If done at the beginning, it can influence the positioning of certain aspects of the company's commercial activities at the exhibition, for example, in terms of the content of the commercial proposal for potential partners. Sensus after the exhibition will allow for more conscious information gathering, which will improve the quality of work with equal labor costs.

In some cases, companies, especially small ones, still travel specifically for sensus of an export market. That is, this is the main purpose of the trip. As a rule, this is characteristic of situations where the manager and the owner are the same person, and the management style implies personal participation in such events. Of course, such trips are very useful. On the other hand, they may not always be effective. Therefore, a trip to conduct sensus needs to be prepared in advance by studying the market at least in terms of basic parameters: barriers, competitors, potential, etc. Furthermore, during market familiarization, it is possible to organize and conduct meetings that can be of a general nature, serving as a kind of first personal contact.

In conclusion, sensus of export markets can be implemented in different ways, as well as combinations of approaches, since information in each case is collected from different sources and subjectively assessed by different people. Conducting sensus when entering export markets will help develop a more effective marketing strategy for working with the market and find additional opportunities to improve the effectiveness of commercial activities.