Exporting- Essential Market Research

Exporting, like everything in business, requires extensive research.  Selling your product/service in the international market can be a daunting task; it’s hard enough to get your product/service to be recognized at home, let alone in a foreign country with a different language and culture. As a business owner it is important to be organized, in order to be successful in exporting you need to be even more organized, and it starts at the market research phase.

Exporting requires capital, sometimes extensive capital, so before you go and spend your capital on a failing venture you need to know several things. Some of the questions you can ask yourself are:

1. Is there a market for my product/service in the region?

2. Do i target an area or a specific country?

3. What is my competition, both at home and the export destination?

4. Any government regulations concerning my potential exports?

The list of questions to be answered can be extensive, but it is important to spend the time and effort to do this. You are the small business owner and exporting could either create opportunities or put you out of business. I suggest a "business rhythm", this derived from my days in the Army doing "Battle Rhythms", for your research. The caveat is this is not a routine! It’s a framework, you a lot time to complete the research tasks that you need to get completed, on a weekly or monthly basis, and try to stick with those. If you can’t its fine, but you shouldn’t be exporting if you can’t put the time to do research. Some of the tasks that i do for my market research business rhythm include:

1. Read local news about the region/country that interests me

2. Go to export.gov and read market analysis for the region/country

3. Research the commerce department of the export destination

4. Research conferences or trade shows focused either on my product or on the region i want to export too.

These are just a few, just as the questions, the tasks associated with your business rhythm should be tailored to the amount of time you are willing to spend and you specific business needs.

 Conducting research is not glamorous, even an enjoyable part of being a business owner. In exporting though, it is essential to do so, and do it extensively. Market research will lay the foundation for a successful exporting venture.