As the business arena becomes increasingly globalised, the interest of companies to enter or expand to markets that they previously had no experience with has soared. Most of these emerging markets are promising in terms of profitability, a financially willing and prepared customer base, a growing and sustainable demand, or a combination of these factors that make them attractive investment points.
With the right strategy, a business can build a strong brand and enjoy continued growth in emerging economies that may even sometimes eventually become the main source of their income.
While engaging new markets can be rewarding, the groundwork you need to lay down in order to undertake a successful entry is often challenging and backbreaking. Based on their years of working with the most ambitious global companies, logistics specialist teams at BiS Henderson have seen how a slight mistake when entering promising markets can make or break decades of great work.
On the other hand, they have also seen how an intelligently planned and implemented approach can build an empire almost overnight. Selling in an unfamiliar territory is indeed not for the faint of heart. But with a solid, informed strategy, it can be just one of the best things you can do for your business.
According to the logistic specialists, the following are some of the most common factors that fuel a successful entry into emerging markets:
Learn the culture
You want to get to know the core values and belief systems of your host country because you need to go the extra mile to show and establish credibility and trust. And the only way to do this is to understand your business from the perspective of your target market. Get on the ground. Experience the place first-hand. Talk to the locals. Business plans and other preparations do not mean a thing until they have been aligned with a culturally oriented strategy.
State the expectations
Businesses always need to state the obvious to make every deal clear, transparent and predictable. You need to effectively communicate the expectations in terms of the price and payment terms, how the deliverables are fulfilled, and how data is managed and handled.
Your logistics strategy should not only deliver, but also constantly push for a highly reliable and consistent process. This is important even in markets that are more sophisticated, making it all the more crucial in markets that are still developing and may therefore still be sceptical about your processes.
Be prepared to move fast
Emerging markets are so dynamic that exponential growth and unprecedented development is a typical phenomenon. Your organisation should then be equipped to handle and manage huge, fast change and turn the movement into a business opportunity.
Just like how a delivery company should be prepared to bring the goods in mint condition to the destination despite the many unexpected things on the road, businesses should arm themselves with tools and hire the best local and global talents so they can be proactive instead of reactive to the major shifts that will come their way.
