Find Competitor Intelligence

Sometimes I don’t know whom the main competitors are when researching an unfamiliar market. First stop to find out is to use Google.

Imagine that my client is Starbucks. I could then search on Google using ‘vs’ or ‘versus’ in keywords. See how a list of competitors appears. This search is also likely to elicit lots of information that has a competitive intelligence slant.

With competitive research it’s not just the direct competitors that you need to worry about, it’s the disruptors who enter your marketplace with new technology or services that solve your customer’s problems better. That’s when a comprehensive search of the market using free and paywall resources comes into play. The crucial thing here is to understand what market is in terms of the problem that your buyer wants to be solved, not just the product or service that you are selling.

How to Find Market Size and Market Value

Market size info for small markets like New Zealand or niche products can be tricky to find. Sometimes, a best-efforts estimation is the only option. Here are some tips to help you if you need some market size or value data.

1. Define your market first, i.e. by geography, technology, demography, use or sector and stick to it.

2. Formulate how you will do your calculations. It should be a combination of desk research for any published information and primary analysis to back up any initial conclusions and for sense-making.

3. Only use reputable data from secondary research. Look carefully at how they have come to their conclusions and double check it. Does it make sense? Is the data they have measured fit with your market parameters?

4. When doing the desk research, pick up on any trend data that is coming up that will affect future market share, e.g. disruptors entering via new technology, changes in packaging needs, or trends in dietary preferences by customers. This information is valuable as an early-warning indicator of change in the market, allowing you to prepare.

5. Once you’ve got some market size/ value numbers, make sure that you carefully cite the source data. If you need to do this exercise again, it’s a big help to have the framework of past calculations to start from, and then you can tweak if necessary.

6. If statistical analysis isn’t your thing, then gather the data and get someone who knows how to forecast and model numbers.

7. Be transparent - tell people it’s a ‘best efforts’ result, but show how you got to the conclusion you have and what the parameters were. Market size/value is often an educated guess as people, and the choices they make are often very fluid and can change overnight.

Food Kit Market

I have covered Google Trends before, but it’s an interesting tool to track what is being searched for on Google. It’s easy to track competitors or substitutes and see the number of searches being made by company name over time and by geography. Here’s an interesting graph on the two main food delivery kits in New Zealand and Uber Eats. Note the rise in searches of Hello Fresh in November - that coincides with an article in the national press comparing market leader My Food Bag with new entrant Hello Fresh. Interestingly, overseas research is pointing to the delivery of food kits and eat-at-home meals being key to growth for supermarket chains and restaurants. More consumers are staying home to eat because of the Netflix binge effect or they work from home, and don't want to fight the traffic and crowds to eat nice food.

Trends for 2019

At this time of the year, we’re all wondering how 2019 is going to play out. Futurity is a newsletter of research news from leading universities from all over the globe. The latest research in science, health, culture and the environment is delivered to your inbox daily. The site also has slideshows, videos and audio interviews given by the researchers involved, so you get a lot more context about the research, plus great visuals to aid insight. 

News Monitoring

Keeping up with what’s going on in the world is a must for market researchers so that you understand the context of the world that your clients are operating in. I always skim through Next Draft. It’s a well-curated daily overview of news stories but I found the recent ranking of vegetables by how healthy they are illuminating. Who knew asparagus would be number one?

Podcasts for Market Researchers

Listening to market research podcasts can be a great way of keeping up-to-speed with what's happening in the industry while you make your way home in the traffic. Here's one that I like for understanding how social marketing is changing the way we shop, which is vital for marketers to know https://player.fm/series/behind-the-numbers-emarketer-podcast. It’s cutting-edge stuff, so have a listen. Another great one is https://player.fm/series/the-present-beyond-measure-show-data-visualization-storytelling-presentation-for-digital-marketers. This podcast tells how you can improve your data visualisation efforts so that your market research insights are clear and actionable to your clients.

Aggregator of General Interest Magazines

Blendle has changed my life. For years, I have wanted an aggregator to come along and pull together the best of general interest sources such as Newsweek, The Economist, Wall Street Journal, TIME, Vanity Fair etc. and Blendle has done it! You can curate the content and get daily or weekly feeds, plus it's all pay-per-view. The downside is that the search engine isn't flash, so I use other indexing tools to find the info for my clients. Seriously, it's cool!

Largest Companies in the World

Sometimes you quickly need to find out who the big global, regional or country players are in an industry. Here's a free search option that will provide that  - The Global 5000. The first 50 matches from a search cost nothing, but then you have to pay, and yes, that's a bit pricey. The data can then be 'sliced 'n' diced' on both public and private companies worldwide by industry, employees, and revenue, where available. Depending on what you are looking for, I think the free search option can save a lot of legwork.

Consumer Trend Forecasting

It’s that time of year when we look at consumer preference trends in 2017 and forecast what 2018 might be like. If you want some futuristic inspiration or need to get up-to-speed quick smart with what’s changing, try these reports on trends…

• Kantar Millward Brown's Media & Digital Predictions provides marketers with a guide to the challenges and opportunities ahead in 2018.

• Euromonitor's 'What's New in Retail: Emerging Global Concepts in 2017'.

• The Innovation Group’s ‘The Future 100 2018’, their annual snapshot of the year ahead and the most compelling trends to keep on the radar.

• NPD’s ‘Food and Beverage Industry Predictions for 2018’.

• Euromonitor sets out their forecasts for six industry sectors; automotive, consumer goods, retail, financial services, healthcare and telecommunications in 2018.

• New Zealand retail trends for 2018

Looks like we're on the cusp of massive change! Email me (cathy@heath.co.nz) if you need help keeping up with it all. We specialise in getting rid of the all the noise, so you only get the good, life-changing insight.

Poll and Survey Market Research

With country or regional-specific sites, You.Gov has self-selecting polls on a variety of topics from how many of us fear robots taking our jobs to how many of us eat dinner in front of the TV each night. The results aren't scientific, but the information can present some really nice jumping-off points for doing more rigorous research. Here's a diagram below featuring the countries in the APAC region which feature in the surveys.

New Product Development (NPD)

I’m always on the hunt for cool new apps, websites or tools that will help me work smarter. Have a look at Product Hunt. It’s a daily list of the best new products or new releases. The breath of what is being developed is just amazing and great to see what features developers are adding to their products. This could give you ideas about where to take your product or service, plus offers some great competitor research insights.

Research for Venture Capitalists

By the very nature of what they do, venture capitalists have a need for detailed research on companies and markets. My new favourite daily newsletter is by CB Insights (https://www.cbinsights.com/) which provides up-to-date analysis on where the money is going. We are living in an era of disruption with massive change occurring in sectors such as health, finance, retail and manufacturing to name a few. CB Insights have their finger firmly on the pulse, with on-point analysis, so that you can keep up. Some info is behind a paywall, but the daily newsletter is free and written in a very entertaining way. However, if there’s some research gaps that need filling, you can always get in touch with me for help first.

Market Research For Exporters

The New Zealand Story (https://www.nzstory.govt.nz/pages/about) was created with extensive input from over 200 leaders from the primary sector, manufacturing, Māori, export industry, education and wider government services to promote New Zealand. Lots of good on-the-ground research here. One report about exporting to Japan reminds Kiwi's to highlight how we excel by being creative and ingenious in primary markets rather than telling them how good we are at supplying agricultural products.

Market Analyst Reports

While I prefer the fee-based analyst databases for their search capability, Smarter Analyst (https://www.smarteranalyst.com/) is a great free substitute. The analyst commentaries focus on listed U.S. companies, so the value of this resource is limited somewhat. The plus is that you can see what is happening in this market and how it could translate to where you are. These analysts often have the contacts and intimate knowledge of a market, which means you get the context to fast-forward your understanding of what's going on.

Consumer Preference Analysis

The saying that if you build it, they will come, is an adage that as marketer researchers we simply don’t believe. Identifying a buyers' need or pain point first is crucial and then build your product or service around that by understanding what is happening in the marketplace. One of the best tools I’ve found to identify rising trends and consumer digital behaviours is the Think with Google collections of studies, analysis and reports. For example, this month I found data from Google as to what Gen Xers are watching on YouTube (turns out it is nostalgia related videos and commercials); and, the declining trends in skincare (skin bleaching, seaweed lotion and coconut oil body wraps) are all losing popularity!

Case Studies for Market Research

Check out our latest issue of Insights, where you will find out how to get hold of case studies that just might help give you some insight on how to solve a problem, using the benefit of others experience. No need to reinvent the wheel!

We also feature a great resource which graphically plots where an executive fits in an organisation. That's always interesting to see who their equals are and who they report to, as you can sometimes get a feel about where the company is positioning itself. Don't forget to also see the link to where you can get some free market research. 

Virtual Meet-Up for Professional Groups

As co-chair of the AIIP (Association of Independent Information Professionals) Local Groups team, I recently had an article published in the Association's magazine about how to set up virtual networking groups. It's a great way for solopreneurs to discuss and motivate others, who get what they do, and face the same ups and downs in their businesses. If you'd like to explore how you can set up a virtual group, here's the PDF of my article.

New Zealand Food and Beverages

New Zealand is well known for the quality of the food it produces.

Surveys show that around 70% have a clear preference to buy food such as vegetables, meat, fruit and milk which are produced in New Zealand. Around 14% of Kiwis buy New Zealand food products because they are proud of what their compatriots have gown, but 59% strongly or somewhat agree that they buy local brands because they want to support NZ business. Sounds like identifying NZ made products is an important branding tool that food producers need to include on their packaging to attract consumers.  

Made in...NZ? Preferences for Local and Global Brands

Price and Product Choice for Consumers

In 2015, New Zealand consumers were introduced to 13,984 new branded products. Nielsen found that only 64 (0.4%) had sales over $NZ1 million, with only 7 products being truly innovative new offerings. The rest were just line extensions. Manufacturers seem to be sticking to rather boring ways of growing their market share and in turn, reinforcing price sensitivity. However, smart, nimble small innovators have a chance to grab a slice of the market if they can look at changing demographics and target those with growing populations. Think Chinese, South Korean, Indian and Pacific Island peoples, as well as the growth in millennials and the over-50s.