In our latest research, we explore how brands can support Vets in the current economic climate by understanding their challenges and relationship with pet owners.

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The United Kingdom, often depicted as a homogenised tapestry of afternoon tea and red buses, is a labyrinth of complexities that can confound even the most seasoned marketers. To the uninitiated, it’s easy to fall into the trap of seeing the UK as a monolithic entity, particularly when so many international perceptions are shaped by London’s towering influence. Yet, beneath the canopy of its collective identity lies a medley of regions, each with its distinct cultural heartbeat and consumer behaviour. 

Foreign brands seeking to penetrate this market often discover that what thrives in Manchester might falter in Cardiff, and what resonates in Belfast may not necessarily translate in Edinburgh. As globalisation tugs on the threads of local identities, it has never been more pressing for brands to understand the intricate dance of regionalism that defines the UK. 

The UK: A Mosaic of Identities

Venture beyond the capital’s bustling streets, and you’ll find a nation teeming with rich histories, vibrant traditions, and – crucially for marketers – distinct consumer habits.

Let’s begin with the broader picture. The United Kingdom is not merely one country; it’s a union of four: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. According to the Office for National Statistics, as of the last census, England housed approximately 84% of the UK’s population, with Scotland accounting for 8%, Wales around 5%, and Northern Ireland close to 3%. Yet, despite these disparities in population, each country has cultivated its own identity, traditions, and consumer patterns.

England, while the most populated, varies significantly within its own boundaries. The cosmopolitan desires of London’s population, boasting a GDP per capita of 56,431 British pounds as of 2021, often differ significantly from the more industrious North or the coastal South.

In Scotland, there’s a profound sense of national pride. A study by VisitScotland showed that over 60% of Scottish consumers preferred buying local products, a number that spikes during key cultural events and holidays.

Wales, on the other hand, retains a robust commitment to its linguistic heritage. Brands such as Lloyds Bank have acknowledged this by offering services in both English and Welsh, addressing the fact that over 870,000 people, or 29% of the Welsh population, can speak the Welsh language, according to the Welsh Language Commissioner’s office.

Then there’s Northern Ireland, a region with its own unique set of socio-political dynamics. Brands seeking to appeal here must understand that consumer choices often intersect with deeper cultural and historical narratives.

And we’re just scratching the surface. Dive deeper into the individual counties of these nations – from Cornwall’s coastal towns to the Scottish Highlands – and the tapestry grows even more intricate. For instance, Oxford’s average salary in 2022 stood at about £37,000, surpassing the UK’s average, hinting at a more affluent consumer base.

The takeaway? A single, blanket strategy for the UK is not just simplistic; it’s commercially naive. Each region, each country, has its own pulse, its own desires, and its own buying triggers. The question then isn’t whether to localise your approach but how.

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Consumer Trends Across the UK: Navigating Unified and Divergent Waters

If there’s one certainty about the UK, it’s that you’ll find as many unifying threads as you will divergences. As marketers, understanding these shared trends while paying heed to regional specialities is paramount. Let’s embark on a whirlwind tour of what binds and what differentiates.

Unified Trends:

Across the UK, certain tendencies bridge the gaps between regions. Digital consumption, for instance, is ubiquitous. According to Ofcom’s latest report, 96% of households in the UK have internet access, and a staggering 88% of adults use smartphones. This digital integration has seen the e-commerce sector skyrocket, with the UK boasting the most advanced e-commerce market in Europe. In 2023, the country expects to have nearly 60 million e-commerce users — leaving only a minority of the population as non-digital buyers. As such, e-commerce has undeniably become the norm for shoppers everywhere in the UK, with the extensive online shopping industry influencing UK consumers daily.

Moreover, a shared interest in sustainability is blooming. Two-thirds of UK consumers say they’ve changed their behaviour to be more sustainable. From packaging to product sourcing, the green shift is palpable and imperative to address.

Regional Specialties:

Despite these shared trends, diving deeper into regional waters unveils distinct currents.

Take food preferences, for example. A YouGov survey found that while 68% of English consumers opt for tea as their go-to brew, in Scotland, it’s a closer contest, with coffee garnering a 48% preference. Or consider fashion, where regions like London and Manchester are more receptive to high-end brands, while areas like the West Midlands show a higher inclination for value-for-money retail, as per the UK’s Consumer Spending Report in 2020.

Local festivals also play a role in consumer trends. St. David’s Day in Wales sees a surge in the sale of traditional Welsh products, while Scotland’s Hogmanay is not just a New Year’s celebration but a catalyst for various sectors, from food and beverage to tourism.

Relevance in Resonance:

While these insights might seem like data points in isolation, they are, in reality, the keys to unlocking genuine consumer resonance. A brand’s ability to navigate these unified and divergent waters will determine its success in the dynamic UK market. Whether launching a digital campaign or positioning a product aligned with regional preferences, marketers are tasked with finding the balance between the general and the specific. The landscape may be intricate, but therein lies its charm – and opportunity.

Common Misconceptions about the UK Market: The Peril of Over-Simplification

In marketing, stereotypes can be a double-edged sword. While they can offer an easy route to comprehend a foreign market quickly, they can just as swiftly mislead, resulting in branding blunders or marketing misfires. With its rich tapestry of regional identities and international prominence, the UK has been subject to numerous such misconceptions. Let’s debunk a few.

The London-centric View:

With its iconic skyline and global reputation, London often becomes the default lens through which the UK is viewed. However, equating London’s preferences to the entirety of the UK’s is a gross oversight. Consider the fact that London houses only about 13% of the UK’s population. Moreover, consumers in cities like Birmingham or Manchester have distinct shopping habits and brand loyalties compared to London.

Stereotyping Regions:

From the stoic Scot to the passionate Welsh, regional stereotypes abound. But marketers would do well to tread carefully here. For instance, the notion that all Scots are frugal is debunked by data from the Scottish Household Survey, which highlighted their propensity for luxury goods in certain regions. Similarly, pigeonholing Welsh consumers as primarily rural overlooks the dynamic urban centres like Cardiff, which, according to the Welsh Government statistics, has seen a 12% growth in retail businesses in the last five years.

Over-generalisation of Buying Power:

It’s an age-old myth that the South of England, compared to the North, has uniformly higher buying power. While areas like London and Oxfordshire might boast higher average incomes, cities in the North, such as Leeds or Newcastle, have seen significant economic growth, with the latter experiencing a 5.5% rise in its GDP in 2020.

The UK: One Size Doesn’t Fit All:

Navigating the UK market demands a keen understanding that its regions are as varied in consumer behaviour as they are in culture and history. Misconceptions can not only hurt a brand’s image but can also translate to significant financial losses. As the adage goes, “assume” makes an “ass” out of “u” and “me.” In the intricate dance of the UK’s consumerism, leading with knowledge, not assumption, is vital.

Implications for Marketing and Market Research: Crafting a Symphony from Regional Notes

Armed with the knowledge that the UK is a medley of regions, each humming its own tune, marketers are faced with the daunting yet exhilarating task of orchestrating a symphony that resonates universally and acknowledges these unique melodies. Here’s the maestro’s guide to achieving just that.

Localising Strategies:

The efficacy of a message often lies in its relevance. Brands like McDonald’s have brilliantly tailored their menus and marketing to resonate with regional preferences, introducing the likes of the ‘Bacon Roll’ in England and the ‘Haggis & Turnip Pie’ in Scotland during special promotions. This regional adaptation is no mere marketing gimmick; according to a Nielsen report, products tailored to local tastes have a 50% higher chance of market success in the UK.

Regional Test Markets:

Using specific regions as testbeds can offer invaluable insights. For instance, a product aimed at urban, cosmopolitan audiences might first be introduced in cities like London or Manchester. 

Cultural Sensitivity:

Brands must tread the delicate balance of local authenticity without veering into cultural appropriation or insensitivity. The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority reported that culturally insensitive ads saw a 60% higher negative engagement rate. Thus, the mantra is simple: appreciate, don’t appropriate.

The Digital-Physical Balance:

While the digital realm is a dominant force, the physical world still holds significant sway. Brands must, therefore, weave a strategy that seamlessly integrates both.

Consumer Feedback Loops:

With the dynamic nature of consumer preferences, establishing robust feedback mechanisms is non-negotiable. According to a report by Trustpilot, 89% of UK consumers read reviews before making a purchase, emphasising the critical role of consumer voices in shaping brand perceptions and strategies.

Embracing the UK’s Diversity:

Marketers must see the UK not as a challenge but as an opportunity. The diversity offers a playground to craft nuanced, engaging, and effective strategies. However, the crux lies in the research depth, the cultural appreciation, and the agility to adapt. The UK’s consumer landscape isn’t a puzzle to solve but a narrative to co-write, one region at a time.

Case Studies: Insights from the Trenches

When navigating UK’s consumer market, real-world examples offer a goldmine of insights. Here, we present both ends of the spectrum: brands that flourished through astute understanding and those that faltered, providing valuable lessons for future endeavours.

Success Stories:

  1. Cadbury’s Dairy Milk: To resonate with regional tastes, Cadbury launched its ‘Tastes Like Home’ campaign. Celebrating local flavours, they introduced limited-edition bars like the ‘English Breakfast’ for London and the ‘Welsh Cake’ for Wales. The campaign was a smashing success, with Cadbury seeing a 14% surge in sales in these regions.
  2. HSBC’s ‘We are not an Island’ Campaign: This banking giant crafted a campaign celebrating the UK’s rich internationalism. From “We are not an island. We are home to Jodrell Bank” for Manchester to “We are not an island. We are part of something far, far bigger” for the UK, these region-specific ads underlined the UK’s global yet intensely local essence. This campaign was lauded for its profound cultural understanding and resulted in a significant uptick in brand sentiment.
  3. Lush’s Regional Stores: Recognising that what works in London doesn’t necessarily work in Cardiff or Edinburgh, Lush tailored their store layouts, product ranges, and even scent profiles to cater to regional preferences. The strategy bore fruit, with Lush reporting region-specific stores outperforming their generic counterparts by 23% in 2020.

Cautionary Tales:

  1. Starbucks’ Gaelic Gaffe: To embrace local culture, Starbucks introduced a Gaelic version of its name in Scotland. However, the translation was botched, leading to ridicule on social media. This error not only impacted the brand’s image briefly but also underscored the importance of meticulous research.
  2. Pepsi’s ‘Come Alive!’ Campaign in Wales: Pepsi’s infamous global tagline, ‘Come Alive with Pepsi,’ translated in Welsh, meant ‘Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave.’ This translation error in the 1960s caused a stir and provided a valuable lesson on the importance of cultural and linguistic nuance.
  3. Nike’s ‘Londoner’ Ad: While Nike intended to celebrate London’s diversity, it inadvertently ruffled feathers in other regions. Critics felt it overshadowed the rich tapestry of athleticism and culture in other parts of the UK. Though the ad was a hit in London, it underscored the risk of regional exclusion.

These case studies underline the pivotal role of understanding in marketing. Success isn’t just about catchy taglines or grand visuals; it’s about respecting, appreciating, and, most importantly, understanding the complex regional nuances of the UK’s diverse consumer landscape.

BEAUTY-TRENDS

Practical Tips for Foreign Brands: Mastering the UK’s Multifaceted Marketplace

Diving into the UK’s consumer market is akin to exploring an intricately woven tapestry, where every thread has its tale and every knot has its nuance. For foreign brands aiming to thrive, not merely survive, here’s a practical playbook tailored from lessons both bitter and sweet.

Engage Local Experts:

“When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” This old adage holds profound wisdom. The regional intricacies of the UK are best understood by those who live in them every day.

  • Insider Knowledge: Local agencies deeply understand cultural nuances, regional preferences, and consumer behaviour. According to a report by the Market Research Society, campaigns moulded by local insights in the UK had a 35% higher success rate than generic campaigns.
  • Avoiding Pitfalls: Navigating potential cultural minefields becomes easier with local expertise. They can flag potential missteps, ensuring the brand resonates with authenticity rather than appropriation.
  • Tailored Strategies: A local expert can help customise campaigns to echo the distinct voice of each region, enhancing consumer connection and engagement.

Continuous Learning:

The UK’s consumer landscape is in perpetual motion, moulded by evolving trends, shifting demographics, and global influences.

  • Stay Updated: Annual or bi-annual market research isn’t enough. Brands need to stay attuned to the pulse of the market continually. A British Market Research Association report revealed that brands with quarterly or monthly market check-ins enjoyed a 28% higher brand loyalty score in the UK.
  • Feedback Channels: Direct consumer feedback, be it through reviews, surveys, or social media interactions, can offer invaluable real-time insights. This ongoing dialogue ensures the brand remains relevant and responsive.

Embracing Digital:

Digital is not just a platform in the UK; it’s a culture. Understanding this digital landscape is paramount.

  • E-Commerce Nuances: The UK’s e-commerce sector is robust, with a projected growth rate of 7% annually as per a 2021 eMarketer report. But the game-changer? Personalisation. Brands that tailor online shopping experiences based on regional preferences witness higher conversion rates.
  • Regional Social Media Preferences: Platforms like Facebook and Instagram have pan-UK popularity, but certain regions show distinct preferences. For instance, Snapchat sees higher engagement in urban areas like London, while community-driven platforms like Nextdoor are gaining traction in suburban and rural regions.
  • Digital Partnerships: Collaborating with local digital influencers or platforms can amplify brand reach. These partnerships, rooted in trust and authenticity, can help brands effectively tap into established regional audiences.

In essence, the UK is not a market to be ‘cracked’ but a narrative to be co-authored. The journey demands respect, adaptability, and an insatiable thirst for understanding. This might not be the easiest market for foreign brands, but with the right approach, it can certainly be one of the most rewarding.

Final Thoughts: The Symphony of Success in the UK’s Market

In the theatre of global markets, the UK stands out not as a singular act but as a multitude of stories, voices, and emotions that intertwine to form a rich narrative. This very diversity and depth make the UK market both daunting and dazzling.

The lure of the UK’s consumer landscape isn’t merely in its purchasing power or digital prowess. It’s in the laughter that echoes in a pub in Belfast, the quiet contemplation in a bookshop in Edinburgh, the bustling energy of a London market, and the age-old traditions upheld in the Welsh countryside. Each story, each emotion presents an opportunity – a chance to connect, to resonate, and to weave a brand’s tale into the fabric of the UK’s legacy.

The real reward for any brand entering this realm isn’t just monetary success. It’s the privilege of being part of a culture that is as diverse as it is deep, as traditional as it is transformative. Yes, the challenges are many – but so are the rewards.

Brands that approach the UK with an open heart and a keen ear will find more than just a market. They’ll discover a world teeming with stories waiting to be told and retold. It’s not about merely selling a product; it’s about creating memories, forging bonds, and leaving an indelible mark.

For those ready to listen, learn, and love, the UK doesn’t just offer a consumer base. It presents a canvas – vast, varied, and vibrant. And on this canvas, with the right strokes of understanding, respect, and innovation, brands can paint masterpieces that endure.

In this pursuit, remember: It’s not about conquering the UK market. It’s about becoming a cherished chapter in its grand, ongoing saga.

Unlock the UK Market with Kadence International

Navigating the UK’s intricate consumer landscape can be overwhelming. But with Kadence International by your side, you’re not journeying alone. Our London office, entrenched in the heart of this vibrant market, offers a fusion of global insights and local expertise.

From deep-diving into regional nuances to crafting campaigns that resonate, our team at Kadence London is dedicated to illuminating the pathways of success for your brand in the UK. Why go it alone when you can have a seasoned partner guiding you at every step?

Ready to make your mark in the UK? Connect with Kadence International today and let our London team be the compass to your brand’s success story.

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In the game of global expansion, one economic behemoth stands above all – China. With a staggering GDP growth rate that averaged 9.52% from 1989 until 2021, the Middle Kingdom has transformed itself into a labyrinth of opportunity. The sheer scale of China’s market has made it a tempting prospect for brands worldwide. Recent success stories like Tesla’s explosive growth, with China accounting for nearly 30% of its global sales in 2020, highlight the immense potential of this market.

But for all its allure, the Chinese market is not a terrain for the faint-hearted. A complex cocktail of regulatory minefields, a unique digital ecosystem, and ever-shifting consumer preferences can turn a promising venture into a cautionary tale. Cultural nuances often translate into unforeseen challenges, making market entry a multidimensional puzzle requiring precision, insight, and agility.

With an intricate understanding of the challenges brands face looking to make their mark in China, this blog will unfurl a roadmap. By diving into the intricacies of the Chinese market, laying out the blueprint for strategic planning, and delving into the nuts and bolts of execution and implementation, it aims to offer a comprehensive guide to those poised on the cusp of the Chinese frontier. 

Understanding the Chinese Market

Cultural Insights:

Navigating the Chinese market isn’t merely a matter of logistics and economics; it’s an exploration into a rich tapestry of culture, tradition, and evolving social norms. China’s 5,000-year history has shaped a unique consumer psyche that Western paradigms often find enigmatic.

From the Confucian values that underscore collective welfare to the Millennial embrace of digital-first lifestyles, understanding consumer behaviour in China is a study in contrasts and convergence. Face (Mianzi), relationships (Guanxi), and a burgeoning sense of nationalism are more than mere cultural anecdotes; they are the keys to unlocking consumer trust and loyalty.

Collaborating with seasoned market research firms like Kadence International can offer an in-depth analysis of local tastes and preferences. Tailored research delves into the hidden nuances of consumer behaviour, providing a pathway through the cultural labyrinth that awaits foreign brands.

Regulatory Landscape:

China’s regulatory terrain is both intricate and dynamic. From trademark laws that follow a first-to-file principle to the notorious Great Firewall that governs the digital space, compliance isn’t a mere tick-box exercise; it’s a strategic imperative.

The playing field changes frequently in areas such as data protection, advertising standards, and import regulations. A thorough understanding of local laws and a partnership with a research firm well-versed in Chinese regulations can navigate the legal complexities. Insights from local firms can provide a lay of the land and real-time updates on the shifting sands of Chinese legislation.

Market Trends & Dynamics:

China’s market isn’t a monolith; it’s a mosaic of trends, segments, and opportunities. The landscape is diverse, from the luxury boom in tier-one cities like Shanghai and Beijing to the digital embrace in lower-tier cities.

E-commerce giants like Alibaba and JD.com have revolutionised retail, while local competitors are always on the rise, often with state backing. Health and wellness, sustainability, and the integration of technology and tradition represent current trends driving consumption.

Staying ahead of the curve in such a dynamic market requires more than casual observation. It mandates a research-driven approach. Consulting with market experts can provide actionable insights and localised strategies to capitalise on emerging opportunities and prevent unforeseen challenges.

Strategic Planning

Target Audience Identification:

The vibrancy of China’s market landscape is mirrored in its populace. A monolithic approach to audience segmentation here is not just imprudent; it’s untenable. The sprawling urban landscapes and the burgeoning middle class contrast sharply with rural realities. Demographics tell only a part of the story.

Understanding psychographics – aspirations, attitudes, and lifestyle preferences – is pivotal in constructing an empathetic and resonant brand narrative. Millennials in Shenzhen might be driven by technology and innovation, while the older generation in Hangzhou finds solace in tradition. Collaboration with a market research agency like Kadence International can offer a granular view, enabling brands to craft messages that echo in the hearts and minds of diverse Chinese consumers.

Product/Service Localisation:

If globalisation was the buzzword of yesteryears, ‘glocalisation’ reigns supreme today, especially in China. KFC’s congee or Disney’s Mulan are not mere marketing stunts but testaments to a deep understanding of local tastes, language, and culture.

From package designs bearing auspicious symbols to products aligned with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), localisation is not an option; it’s a mandate. 

Engaging with research and consultancy experts allows brands to infuse local sensibilities without losing the global essence. 

Channel Selection:

In the land where cash is passé, and QR codes are king, selecting the proper sales channels is a strategic endeavour. E-commerce platforms like Taobao are only the tip of the iceberg. Live-streaming sales, social commerce on platforms like WeChat, and even new retail concepts that merge online and offline experiences are part of China’s complex retail ecosystem.

Traditional brick-and-mortar stores also hold sway in certain segments. The balance between online and offline channels must be meticulously planned. Collaborating with research firms can provide insights into channel preferences across consumer segments. By aligning with experts, brands can select channels that don’t just reach the audience but resonate with them.

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Execution & Implementation

Partnerships & Collaboration:

In the Chinese market, success is often spelt with a ‘P’ – Partnerships. The local business environment is a maze best navigated with guidance from those who call it home. From technology giants to local distributors, forging strong alliances can be the cornerstone of successful market entry.

Collaborating with a joint venture partner can grant access to local know-how, governmental goodwill, and coveted distribution channels. But this road is fraught with risks and must tread with caution. Engaging with firms with a profound understanding of the landscape can match foreign brands with the most synergistic local partners, ensuring a harmonious and profitable alliance.

Marketing & Advertising Strategy:

Marketing in China is a world in itself. Gone are the days when simple translations sufficed; today, brands must converse in a language that resonates with the Chinese soul. Digital platforms like Weibo, WeChat, and Douyin (TikTok in China) command vast audiences, each with its unique characteristics and user behaviours.

Influencer marketing, known as KOL (Key Opinion Leaders) marketing in China, is a potent tool for turning public figures into brand ambassadors. The Chinese consumer’s trust in peer recommendations and KOLs offers a rich marketing vein to tap.

A nuanced strategy tailored to the local digital ecosystem is not a mere advantage; it’s a necessity. Collaborating with market researchers and local agencies can craft campaigns that sing the brand’s song in a distinctly Chinese melody.

Supply Chain & Logistics Management:

China’s logistical landscape is as vast as it is varied. From sprawling mega-cities to remote rural areas, warehousing, distribution, and shipping must be orchestrated precisely. Tariff barriers, regulatory compliance, and even packaging norms vary across regions.

An efficient supply chain isn’t just about moving products; it’s about ensuring that the brand’s promise is delivered intact, every time, everywhere. This requires a harmony of technology, local expertise, and strategic foresight.

Connecting with experts can create a seamless transition from global procedures to localised supply chain mastery. It’s about delivering not just products but trust and reliability – commodities prized in the Chinese market.

Risks and Challenges

Competition Analysis:

In the crowded Chinese marketplace, competition is fierce and multifaceted. The titans of local industry stand tall, backed by vast resources and a deep understanding of local nuances. Brands like Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu are not just businesses but phenomena shaping the market landscape.

International competitors are equally formidable, often armed with significant resources and aggressive strategies. Understanding local and international adversaries is a complex task requiring more than surface-level analysis. 

Collaboration with local and knowledgeable research firms can help unveil competitors’ strategies, strengths, and vulnerabilities, forming the backbone of a resilient market entry strategy in China.

Intellectual Property Considerations:

The terrain of intellectual property (IP) in China is precarious. Trademarks, patents, copyrights – all are governed by a legal framework that’s both unique and exacting. The first-to-file system for trademarks is notorious for causing headaches for unsuspecting foreign brands.

IP protection isn’t just a legal necessity; it’s a strategic imperative in a market where counterfeiting and imitation are prevalent. Engaging with trademark experts can provide a shield against potential infringements and craft a strategy that respects local laws while safeguarding the brand’s essence.

Potential Pitfalls & Solutions:

The road to success in China is strewn with potential pitfalls. Common mistakes range from inadequate localisation to misunderstanding local regulations and misalignment with local digital platforms.

  • Inadequate Localisation: Superficial adaptations can lead to cultural blunders. Working closely with cultural consultants and market researchers ensures the brand resonates with the local audience.
  • Regulatory Missteps: Compliances are complex and ever-changing. Collaborative efforts with legal experts and research firms can keep brands abreast of regulatory changes.
  • Digital Misalignment: Choosing the wrong platforms or incorrect digital strategies can lead to wasted resources. Local digital experts can align strategies with platforms that reach and resonate with the target audience.

Mitigating these risks requires an approach grounded in deep market understanding, local expertise, and continuous monitoring. Partnering with experts with local knowledge ensures that brands are not just reactive to these challenges but proactively strategising to avoid them.

Case Studies

Success Stories:

Tesco’s Joint Venture Success: The UK-based retail giant Tesco entered China’s market by forming a joint venture with China Resources Enterprise. This strategic partnership allowed Tesco to leverage local knowledge while introducing its global retail expertise. The synergy led to a win-win scenario, enabling Tesco to carve a niche in the hyper-competitive retail space.

Singapore’s CapitaLand’s Real Estate Triumph: Singapore’s CapitaLand recognised the potential of China’s real estate market early on. Through strategic investments and an understanding of local real estate dynamics, CapitaLand has become a prominent player in China’s burgeoning real estate sector. Its success demonstrates the value of in-depth market analysis and strategic risk-taking.

Lessons Learned:

Marks & Spencer’s Market Misstep: British retailer, Marks & Spencer’s foray into China, was plagued by a lack of local understanding—misjudging consumer preferences and failing to localise offerings led to their eventual exit from the market. The lesson is clear: superficial understanding and insufficient localisation can lead to failure, even for a well-established global brand.

Japan’s Rakuten’s E-Commerce Challenge: Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten entered China with high hopes but faced immense challenges due to fierce local competition and an inability to align with Chinese online shopping behaviour. Ultimately, Rakuten had to withdraw from the Chinese market. The takeaway is the importance of understanding local digital landscapes and recognising that what works in one market may not translate directly to success in another.

The Chinese market’s dynamism offers both opportunities and challenges. Success here requires a blend of local insights, strategic planning, and agile execution. Collaborative efforts with local experts provide a comprehensive understanding of the market, consumer behaviours, competitive landscape, and regulatory compliances.

These case studies illustrate that no matter how big or small, brands must approach the Chinese market with humility, curiosity, and a willingness to learn and adapt. These stories tell us that the path to success in China is rarely a straight line. It’s a winding road that requires navigation with care, expertise, and an eye on the ever-changing landscape.

Final Thoughts

With its vast potential and intricate nuances, the Chinese market is more than a mere economic frontier; it is a complex tapestry woven with culture, innovation, tradition, and ambition. For the brave, it offers a dance with dynamism, a symphony of opportunities that, if orchestrated with finesse, can lead to monumental success.

Critics often argue about the pitfalls, the regulatory minefields, and the cutthroat competition. While these challenges are real, they don’t overshadow China’s tremendous potential. It’s not just about the sheer numbers or the meteoric economic growth; it’s about being part of a market redefining global commerce’s future.

The journey into the Middle Kingdom is neither for the faint-hearted nor for those seeking quick wins. It demands respect for its uniqueness, empathy towards its culture, and strategic acumen that marries global visions with local insights. It’s about playing a long-term game where the rules are continuously evolving.

Is the Chinese market worth the effort? Unequivocally, yes. The brands that have tasted success here have not just expanded their reach; they have enriched their global identity by intertwining with a civilization that’s as ancient as it is futuristic.

In this labyrinth of opportunities and challenges, the role of a seasoned navigator becomes paramount. Kadence International, with its blend of local expertise and global perspectives, offers a compass to brands aiming to explore the Chinese market. Our research, insights, and strategic guidance have been the wind beneath the wings of brands that have soared in China. Are you ready to embark on this journey? Connect with us at Kadence International, and let’s write your success story in the world’s most fascinating marketplace.

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The world has long predicted the massive potential of Asia’s rise, but it’s time for the rest of the world to adjust its outlook. The reality is that the future has arrived even sooner than anticipated.

According to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), developing economies in Asia and the Pacific are expected to experience faster growth this year, fueled by the easing of pandemic restrictions and boosting consumption, tourism, and investment. The region’s growth prospects are particularly brightened by the reopening of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), which has shifted away from its zero-COVID strategy.

The ADB’s Asian Development Outlook (ADO) April 2023 report projects that economies in Asia and the Pacific will grow by 4.8% this year and the next, representing an improvement over the 4.2% growth rate seen in 2022. While developed countries are facing a growth slowdown, the emerging economies in Asia are set to thrive, with projections suggesting excluding the PRC; developing Asia is forecasted to grow 4.6% this year and 5.1% in 2024. Meanwhile, the region’s inflation is expected to gradually moderate towards pre-pandemic levels, although there may be considerable variation across different economies.

What’s fueling this growth? Favorable demographic trends with a young population, a growing middle class, and high-tech adoption rates are just a few factors responsible for this upward trend. With such impressive growth rates, it’s no surprise that more and more companies are expanding their operations and eyeing entry into these markets. 

Exciting factors like a burgeoning middle class, ongoing urbanisation, and high technology adoption in countries like India, Vietnam, and the Philippines contribute to this explosive growth. But, hold on, there are risks involved too.

Cultural and language barriers and the need for more information and data make market research in these markets more challenging. Are you ready to take the plunge and seize the opportunities offered by these emerging economies?

With an impressive growth rate, it’s no wonder businesses worldwide are turning their attention to these emerging economies, eager to tap into their enormous potential. But, to successfully penetrate these markets, comprehensive market research is crucial. In this blog post, we’ll explore how to conduct market research in emerging markets in Asia and identify the key factors to consider with real-world examples of global brands and how they entered these markets.

  • Understand the Market.

The first step in conducting market research in emerging markets is understanding the market. This includes understanding the economic, political, and cultural environment, as well as the needs and preferences of the target audience. Companies must conduct thorough research to understand the local market, including the competitive landscape, regulatory environment, and consumer behaviour.

  • Identify the Target Audience.

The next step is to identify the target audience. This includes understanding the target audience’s demographics, psychographics, and buying habits. Companies need to research to understand the needs and preferences of the local population and how they differ from other markets.

  • Use Local Research Partners.

Companies should consider partnering with local research partners to overcome language and cultural barriers. At Kadence International, we have a breadth of coverage worldwide, with offices in ten countries.

Local research partners can provide valuable insights into the local market and help companies understand the target audience’s cultural nuances. 

  • Consider Online Research Methods.

Online research methods can be an effective way to conduct market research in emerging markets. Online research methods can gather data from a large and diverse population sample and can be completed quickly and cost-effectively.

  • Pay Attention to Cultural Nuances.

Cultural nuances are essential to consider when conducting market research in emerging markets. Companies need to understand the cultural norms and values of the local population and adjust their research methods accordingly.

When Coca-Cola entered the Myanmar market, it conducted online surveys to understand the local market. Coca-Cola used online surveys to gather data on the local population’s beverage preferences and habits.

When US-based fast food giant KFC entered the Chinese market, it had to adapt its menu to appeal to the local population. KFC introduced menu items that catered to local taste preferences, such as rice dishes and egg tarts. Similarly, when McDonald’s entered the Indian market, it conducted extensive research to understand the local market. The brand has no beef or pork products on its menu and adopted certain items and their names for the Indian market, like the Maharaja Mac.

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Ownership structures 

Asian companies have emerged as global leaders in traditional industries such as industrial and automotive sectors and in areas such as technology, finance, and logistics. The last two decades have seen a shift in the industry mix of the region’s largest companies, with a decline in the manufacturing of capital goods and growth in infrastructure and financial services.

When it comes to ownership structures, growth strategies, and operating styles, Asian corporate giants differ significantly from publicly owned Western multinationals. About two-thirds of the 110 Chinese companies listed in the Fortune 500 are state-owned, and the region also boasts several large conglomerates. 

In Japan, the “big six” keiretsu also have significant weight in the country’s equity market, with each owning numerous companies across multiple industries. For instance, all major Japanese car manufacturers can be traced back to a keiretsu. 

And India’s top six conglomerates alone employ more than two million people.

Emerging Markets in Asia

Here are some examples of emerging markets in Asia:

  • China: A large, fast-growing economy with a massive population and a rapidly expanding middle class, supported by a government policy of reform and opening up to the world.
  • India: Boasting a young and growing population, a rising middle class, and a government focused on reform, India is poised to be one of the fastest-growing economies in the world
  • Indonesia: With a young population, a rapidly urbanising society, and a large consumer market, Indonesia is a thriving economy and an attractive destination for foreign investment.
  • Vietnam: An economy that has transformed rapidly in recent years, Vietnam is home to a young and growing population, low labor costs, and an expanding manufacturing sector.
  • Philippines: A country with a young and educated workforce, a large consumer market, and a rapidly expanding services sector, the Philippines is a popular destination for foreign investment and outsourcing.
  • Malaysia: An economy that has diversified beyond its traditional focus on commodities, Malaysia is home to a well-educated workforce, a thriving manufacturing sector, and a growing services sector.
  • Thailand: A popular tourist destination and manufacturing hub, Thailand is home to a large and growing consumer market, a robust agricultural sector, and a thriving services sector.
  • Bangladesh: With a large and growing population, a low-cost labor force, and a government committed to reform and development, Bangladesh is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.
  • Pakistan: A country with a large and young population, a thriving agricultural sector, and a rapidly growing services sector, Pakistan has enormous economic potential.
  • Myanmar: With over 50 million people and an economy opening up to the world, Myanmar is poised for rapid growth in the coming years.

Cultural Aspects Brands Need to Know

When conducting market research in emerging markets in Asia, companies need to understand the cultural aspects of the local population. Here are some cultural elements that brands need to know:

Collectivism vs. Individualism. 

Some cultures are more collectivistic, where the needs of the group are prioritised over the needs of the individual. Other cultures are more individualistic, where the needs of the individual are prioritised over the needs of the group.

High vs. Low Context. 

Some cultures are high-context, which means they rely heavily on non-verbal communication and indirect language to convey meaning. Other cultures are low-context, where people rely more on direct communication and explicit language.

Power Distance. 

Some cultures have a high power distance, with a significant distance between those in authority and those who are not. Other cultures have a low power distance.

Masculinity vs. Femininity. 

According to Geert Hofstede, “masculine” and “feminine” are often used to describe society’s cultural dimensions. These dimensions are based on various cultural variables, such as values, beliefs, and attitudes.

In a “masculine” culture, competitiveness, assertiveness, and material success are highly valued. This may lead to a focus on achievement and advancement in the workplace, emphasising individual success over group cohesion. There is also a tendency to prioritise ambition and competition over collaboration and empathy.

In a “feminine” culture, on the other hand, collaboration, empathy, and social harmony are emphasised. There may be less focus on material success and more on the quality of life, work-life balance, and social responsibility. In the workplace, there may be more emphasis on collaboration and teamwork, with less emphasis on hierarchical structures or individual achievement.

It’s worth noting that these cultural dimensions are not binary or mutually exclusive, and different cultures may exhibit varying degrees of masculine and feminine characteristics. Additionally, individuals within a culture may have unique values and beliefs that don’t necessarily conform to cultural norms.

Religion.

Religion can also play a significant role in shaping cultural values and norms in emerging markets. Companies need to understand the religious beliefs and practices of the local population and how they may impact consumer behaviour. For instance, in Indonesia, where most of the population follows the Islamic faith, even non-food companies must consider “halal” concepts.

Case Study: Coca-Cola in India

Coca-Cola is a global brand that has successfully entered emerging markets in Asia. One example is India. Coca-Cola entered the Indian market in 1993 and initially faced challenges due to cultural and political barriers. The company had to adjust its marketing strategy and product offerings to appeal to the local population.

Coca-Cola conducted extensive market research in India to understand the local market. The company discovered that the local population preferred sweeter beverages and was concerned about water quality. Coca-Cola adjusted its product offerings to include sweeter beverages and invested in local water treatment facilities to ensure the quality of its products.

Coca-Cola also adjusted its marketing strategy to appeal to the local population. The company used local celebrities and cultural events in its advertising campaigns to create a solid emotional connection with the local audience.

Due to language and cultural barriers, conducting market research in emerging markets in Asia can take time and effort. 

However, with the right approach, companies can enter these markets and create successful branding strategies. Understanding the local market, identifying the target audience, using local research partners, considering online research methods, and paying attention to cultural nuances are all critical factors to consider when conducting market research in emerging markets. 

Companies that take the time to conduct thorough market research and adjust their branding strategy to meet the needs of the local population can create a strong and lasting impression with their target audience.

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Challenges brands face in emerging markets and strategies for overcoming them.

While emerging markets in Asia offer significant growth opportunities for brands, they also present unique challenges that brands must overcome. These challenges include language and cultural barriers, limited infrastructure, and the need for more data and information. 

Language and Cultural Barriers.

One of the primary challenges brands face in emerging markets is language and cultural barriers. Companies must understand the local language and cultural nuances to develop a successful branding strategy that resonates with the target audience.

To overcome language and cultural barriers, brands should consider partnering with local marketing agencies and research firms. These firms can provide valuable insights into the local culture and language, help develop messaging that resonates with the target audience, and ensure that the brand’s message is culturally sensitive and appropriate.

When Nike entered the Chinese market, the company partnered with a local marketing agency to develop a branding strategy that resonated with the local population. The agency provided insights into the local culture and language, which helped Nike develop messaging that resonated with the target audience.

Limited Infrastructure.

Another challenge brands face in emerging markets is limited infrastructure. Emerging markets may need more access to transportation, communication, and other essential infrastructure, making it difficult for brands to distribute products and conduct market research.

To overcome limited infrastructure, brands should consider developing innovative distribution strategies that leverage local infrastructure. For example, when Coca-Cola entered the Myanmar market, the company partnered with local distributors to establish a distribution network that leveraged local transportation infrastructure.

Lack of Data and Information.

Another challenge brands face in emerging markets is a need for more data and information. Emerging markets may need more access to data and information, making it difficult for brands to conduct market research and develop a successful branding strategy.

To overcome the lack of data and information, brands should consider investing in primary research methods, such as surveys, focus groups, and interviews. These research methods can help brands gather data and information directly from the target audience and provide valuable insights into consumer behaviour.

Regulatory Challenges.

Another challenge brands face in emerging markets is regulatory challenges. Emerging markets may have different regulatory frameworks, making it difficult for brands to navigate the local market and establish a presence.

To overcome regulatory challenges, brands should consider partnering with local experts who understand the local regulatory environment. These experts can provide valuable insights into local regulations and help brands navigate the local market.

Market research methodologies brands use to enter emerging markets in Asia.

Market research methodologies are diverse and should be tailored to the specific needs of each market. Surveys, focus groups, ethnographic research, in-depth interviews, social media monitoring, and big data analytics are some of the most commonly used market research methodologies in emerging markets in Asia. 

Using these methodologies, brands can collect accurate and relevant data and develop successful branding strategies that resonate with the target audience.

As brands look to enter emerging markets in Asia, they must use market research methodologies tailored to each market’s specific needs. Market research methodologies in Asia are diverse, and brands must choose a suitable method to collect accurate and relevant data.

Surveys and Questionnaires.

Surveys and questionnaires are the most commonly used market research methodology in emerging markets. Surveys are typically used to gather data on consumer behaviour, preferences, and attitudes. They can be conducted face-to-face, online, or by phone.

In India, brands often use surveys to understand the local market. For example, when Coca-Cola entered the Indian market, it surveyed the local population’s beverage preferences and habits.

Focus Groups.

Focus groups are another popular market research methodology involving a small group discussing a specific product or service. 

These groups can provide valuable insights into consumer behaviour, attitudes, and preferences.

Apple conducted focus groups to understand the local population’s needs and preferences when it entered the Chinese market.

Ethnographic Research.

Ethnographic research involves observing and studying people in their natural environment. This methodology helps understand consumer behaviour and preferences in a specific cultural context.

In Thailand, brands often use ethnographic research to understand the local market. For example, when Unilever entered the Thai market, it used ethnographic research to understand the local population’s skincare habits and preferences.

In-Depth Interviews.

In-depth interviews involve one-on-one interviews with participants to gather detailed information about their behaviour, attitudes, and preferences. In-depth interviews can provide valuable insights into consumer behaviour and preferences.

In Vietnam, brands often use in-depth interviews to understand the local market. For example, when Nike entered the Vietnamese market, it conducted in-depth interviews with local consumers to understand their needs and preferences.

Social Media Monitoring.

Social media listening and monitoring involves monitoring and analysing social media platforms to gather consumer behaviour and preferences data. Social media monitoring can provide real-time insights into consumer behaviour and preferences.

In Indonesia, brands often use social media listening and monitoring to understand the local market. When McDonald’s entered the Indonesian market, it monitored social media to understand the local population’s reaction to its menu items and marketing campaigns.

Big Data Analytics.

Big data analytics involves analysing large volumes of data to identify patterns and trends. This methodology helps understand consumer behaviour and preferences at a large scale.

In the Philippines, brands often use big data analytics to understand the local market. For example, when Nestle entered the Philippine market, it used big data analytics to understand the local population’s food preferences and habits.

Emerging markets in Asia offer significant growth opportunities for brands but also present unique challenges. To establish a successful presence in these markets, brands must overcome language and cultural barriers, limited infrastructure, lack of data and information, and regulatory challenges. By partnering with local experts, investing in primary research methods, and developing innovative distribution strategies, brands can overcome these challenges and grow a successful branding strategy that resonates with the target audience.

When looking to conduct panel research, consider partnering with Kadence International, a multi-award-winning global market research agency with extensive experience and expertise in panel research. Contact us today to learn more about our panel research services and how we can help you gather the insights you need to drive business success.

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Market research is a critical foundation for any company expanding beyond its domestic operations. While research is valuable at every stage of a business lifecycle, it becomes indispensable when entering unfamiliar international markets. The risks are greater, the variables more complex, and the assumptions that hold true at home often fall apart abroad.

Understanding the needs of international marketing starts with recognising that success abroad demands more than simply replicating domestic strategies. It requires deep, localised insight—into consumer behaviours, cultural context, infrastructure, regulations, and the competitive landscape. International market research provides this insight, equipping businesses with the data and foresight necessary to reduce risk, allocate resources strategically, and compete with incumbents.

What Is International Market Research?

International market research refers to the process of gathering, analysing, and interpreting information about a foreign market before entry or expansion. Unlike domestic research, it involves working across languages, legal systems, cultural values, and operational realities that may be unfamiliar or unpredictable.

At its core, this research aims to answer several fundamental questions: Who are the customers? What do they need? Who else is meeting that need? What regulations will shape entry? And how do economic, social, and political conditions affect market potential?

While the research techniques—such as surveys, interviews, and competitive audits—are often similar to domestic research, they must be adapted to suit the norms, expectations, and infrastructure of the target market.

Why Domestic Research Alone Falls Short

The distinction between international and domestic research isn’t just about geography. It’s about context. Companies often underestimate the degree to which consumer behaviour is shaped by local culture, infrastructure, history, and regulation.

For example, qualitative research methods like focus groups may perform well in the United States or UK but prove ineffective or even counterproductive in countries where group participation is limited by cultural norms or trust issues. Online surveys may have broad reach in developed markets but suffer low response rates or access limitations in developing economies with poor internet penetration.

Assuming that domestic insights can be directly transferred into new international markets leads to misalignment, miscommunication, and costly mistakes.

Eight Reasons Why International Market Research Is Essential

1. Cultural Context Shapes Consumer Response

Cultural missteps are one of the most common reasons market entries fail. Norms around communication, packaging, imagery, and even colour can vary significantly across borders. What feels aspirational in one culture may appear aggressive or inappropriate in another.

Consider Gerber’s failed entry into several African markets. The brand’s standard baby food packaging featured a smiling infant on the jar. In markets where labels typically depict the product inside, consumers assumed the jars contained baby meat. Without research into local packaging norms, Gerber misread its audience and suffered reputational damage.

Even subtle cultural signals—like the tone of advertising, the role of gender in decision-making, or the expected pace of customer service—can dramatically influence perception. Research allows brands to calibrate messaging, design, and experience in ways that resonate.

2. Regulatory Environments Are Market-Defining

Every market has its own legal framework. This includes data privacy, advertising laws, product standards, hiring regulations, and consumer protection policies. Failing to understand these nuances can stall launches, trigger penalties, or lead to costly compliance overhauls after launch.

Market research helps identify not just what is legal, but what is common practice. For instance, a telemarketing strategy might technically comply with regulations but still be viewed as intrusive or culturally insensitive in certain markets. Likewise, compliance with GDPR in Europe requires a different data management approach than marketing to consumers in Japan or Indonesia.

3. Preferences Aren’t Universal

Consumer preferences don’t always follow logic. They follow context. Taste, aesthetics, pricing sensitivity, and usage behaviour are all deeply shaped by regional expectations.

Home Depot’s failed expansion in China is a case in point. The brand assumed the do-it-yourself (DIY) model would translate easily. But most Chinese middle-class consumers live in high-rise apartments and prefer hiring professionals over undertaking home renovations themselves. The model that made Home Depot successful in the U.S. was culturally misaligned in China.

Market research helps uncover these critical nuances before strategic decisions are locked in.

4. Understanding the Competition Requires Ground-Level Insight

Competitive landscapes in foreign markets may appear similar on paper but behave differently in practice. Local brands may have decades of relationship capital, unique pricing models, or distribution arrangements that aren’t visible through desktop research.

Studying these players helps foreign entrants avoid head-on competition where they are unlikely to win. Instead, research allows companies to identify underserved niches, behavioural gaps, or brand positioning opportunities that incumbents have missed.

5. Risk Mitigation Requires Local Knowledge

Entering any new market carries risk. But international markets add complexity in the form of currency volatility, political instability, unfamiliar tax codes, supply chain friction, and talent shortages. These risks cannot be fully understood from afar.

International research helps companies anticipate issues before they escalate. It equips leadership teams with the foresight to scenario-plan, buffer budgets, or pivot entry strategies in response to external shocks. Research can’t eliminate risk, but it makes risk measurable and manageable.

6. Logistics and Infrastructure Vary Widely

Domestic logistics solutions rarely translate directly into foreign markets. Everything from warehousing and payment systems to transportation and fulfilment may need to be rethought.

In countries with limited last-mile delivery networks, e-commerce models must adapt. In regions where mobile wallets are more trusted than credit cards, payment systems must localise. International research helps uncover these frictions in advance, allowing for appropriate operational planning.

7. Strategy and Budget Planning Require Evidence

Entering a new market without solid data is a gamble. Research provides the financial benchmarks, demand forecasts, and competitive intelligence necessary to build realistic market entry strategies. It allows decision-makers to prioritise regions, allocate budgets, and measure viability before investing substantial resources.

In many organisations, well-founded research also plays a key role in securing internal buy-in. When marketing and product teams can clearly show why a region is attractive, how consumer demand is evolving, and what conditions favour entry, it becomes easier to justify budget and resource allocation.

8. Marketing Channels Must Be Context-Specific

A campaign that performs well domestically may fall flat abroad. Marketing channels are shaped by local media habits, platform penetration, language nuance, and consumer trust.

For instance, while Facebook advertising may deliver results in the U.S. or Philippines, WeChat, KakaoTalk, or Line may be far more influential in East Asian markets. In rural markets with low connectivity, offline channels like radio or SMS may still dominate. International market research surfaces these realities so campaigns can be designed for relevance, not just reach.

How International Market Research Differs from Domestic Research

The core methods of market research may be consistent, but their execution and interpretation change significantly across borders. International market research must account for:

  • Cultural fluency: Understanding not just what consumers say, but what they mean within cultural context
  • Legal variance: Navigating country-specific compliance and ethical boundaries
  • Operational constraints: Adapting research methods to infrastructure realities (e.g. mobile surveys in mobile-first markets)
  • Linguistic nuance: Translating more than just language—capturing idioms, tone, and intent

Success in international markets doesn’t come from applying domestic strategies at scale. It comes from rethinking assumptions and rebuilding strategy on local insight.

Closing Insight: Insight Is a Strategic Asset

In the global economy, assumptions are expensive. The first step of the research process is essential because it reveals the unknowns that domestic success often obscures. It’s not simply about avoiding failure. It’s about seeing what others miss.

Organisations that treat international market research as a strategic discipline—rather than a compliance formality or launch checklist—position themselves to grow with confidence. They enter new markets not as outsiders, but as informed players who respect local complexity and act accordingly.

To succeed globally, companies must begin locally. That begins with asking the right questions, in the right places, and listening closely to the answers that emerge.

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Expanding into a foreign market requires more than translating your existing strategy. It demands local insight, and that starts with selecting the right international market research methods. Understanding what consumers want, how they behave, and what barriers exist—from cultural nuance to infrastructure—is what separates successful entries from expensive missteps.

The quality of your research is directly tied to your market outcome. Poorly chosen methods can lead to costly misjudgements, particularly when entering unfamiliar international markets where assumptions rarely hold.

Every challenge of domestic expansion—from compliance to messaging—is intensified when moving into a foreign market. Without local research, you risk launching into an unfamiliar environment blind to the cultural, legal, and logistical realities that shape consumer behaviour.

The following methods represent some of the most effective approaches for conducting international market research. Each has strengths and limitations depending on the market context, infrastructure, and cultural norms.

Understanding Data Types in International Market Research

Before selecting the appropriate methodology, it’s critical to understand the types of data international market researchers typically rely on: secondary data, survey data, and experimental data. Each plays a distinct role in shaping insight, and their relevance often shifts depending on the infrastructure, openness, and regulatory constraints of the target market.

Secondary data

Secondary data refers to information that has already been collected for other purposes—government publications, trade association reports, academic studies, and NGO findings. It offers a low-cost starting point, especially in regions with transparent regulatory or economic reporting.

However, researchers must be cautious. In some countries, government or institutional data may be outdated, politically influenced, or difficult to access. Language barriers and translation inaccuracies can also compromise the clarity of findings.

Survey data

Survey data includes any information collected directly from individuals within your target market. It encompasses methods such as online questionnaires, telephone interviews, in-person intercepts, and mobile surveys. Surveys are particularly useful in international research because they provide firsthand insight into consumer preferences, behaviours, and unmet needs.

Challenges emerge quickly across borders. Researchers must navigate dialects, idioms, translation accuracy, and cultural tendencies that influence how questions are interpreted or answered. Standardising instruments across geographies requires localisation, not just language conversion.

Experimental data

Experimental data is generated by testing variables in controlled environments. In international market research, this might involve A/B testing promotional offers, pricing strategies, or product messaging across different cultural or regional cohorts. This method lets companies observe actual behavioural responses, not just stated preferences.

Experimental approaches yield some of the most actionable findings, but they’re also among the most difficult to execute across international markets. Regulatory approval, ethical review processes, and operational complexity vary widely. Testing that seems routine in one country may face resistance or legal obstacles in another.

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9 Effective Methods for International Market Research

Selecting the right market research methods is one of the most important decisions you’ll make when entering a foreign market. Different regions demand different approaches. Infrastructure, cultural norms, technology access, and data availability vary widely, and each factor affects how you collect insight. Below are nine of the most effective methods used by researchers to navigate these complexities.

1. Overseas Business Research

Reviewing existing business research can provide a valuable foundation. Internal reports from companies operating in your target market—whether competitors or not—can reveal macro trends, industry dynamics, regulatory conditions, and consumer behaviours.

While business intelligence offers a useful snapshot, it’s not enough to rely on other firms’ findings. Each company enters the market with different priorities, resources, and audiences. Use these insights to sharpen your own hypothesis, but validate with original research tailored to your objectives.

2. Foreign Government Information

Government sources often publish extensive demographic, economic, and regulatory data. National statistics offices, trade ministries, and customs departments maintain datasets that help companies understand the makeup and potential of a given market.

These insights are especially important when navigating legal and compliance issues. Tariffs, import restrictions, tax obligations, and employment laws vary significantly—and change frequently. Reviewing official publications can help avoid costly surprises, but researchers should assess source credibility and update frequency.

3. NGO and Third-Sector Data

In emerging markets where government data may be sparse or outdated, NGOs often provide more current and granular insight. Their reports can be particularly valuable in areas such as public health, education, income distribution, infrastructure, and rural access.

International organisations like the World Bank, UNICEF, and regional development agencies often work with local partners to produce data that’s otherwise inaccessible. These sources are especially useful for companies entering underserved markets or aiming to understand social and environmental dynamics.

4. Face-to-face Interviews and Focus Groups

Direct interactions through in-person interviews and moderated focus groups remain one of the most powerful tools in international research. They offer context-rich feedback and reveal nuanced perceptions, priorities, and emotions that surveys may overlook.

However, these sessions require careful planning. Venue sourcing, translation services, recruitment, and local moderation can be complex—particularly in rural or low-trust environments. Some markets may view formal research processes with suspicion or deferential politeness, leading to skewed responses. Working with experienced local partners is often essential.

5. Attitude scales

Attitude scales such as the Likert scale allow researchers to measure intensity of opinion across cultures. They’re relatively easy to translate and can be applied across multiple channels, from in-person questionnaires to online surveys.

While useful, they must be interpreted with care. In some cultures, respondents avoid extreme ratings out of politeness or social harmony. In others, midpoint choices are overused to mask disagreement. Pre-testing and local adaptation are key to generating useful results.

6. Text message (SMS) survey

Text message surveys provide quick, low-cost access to mobile users. They’re ideal in countries where smartphone penetration is low but basic mobile phone usage is widespread.

However, SMS surveys offer limited depth and are constrained by character count. They’re not ideal for complex topics, and mobile reach varies significantly by country. For example, GSMA data from 2024 shows mobile penetration in Sub-Saharan Africa still lags behind other regions, reducing effectiveness in rural areas.

7. Online survey

Email-based or web-hosted surveys are among the most scalable research tools. They allow for broad distribution, rapid response, and easy localisation.

The challenge is digital access. Markets with limited broadband or low internet penetration cannot be reached effectively through online-only methods. Even where connectivity is high, survey fatigue and low engagement can affect data quality. Incentivisation and responsive design can improve participation.

8. Mobile web survey

Smartphone-based surveys have surged in popularity, especially in mobile-first economies. Apps and browser-based surveys can collect multimedia responses, geo-location data, and behavioural patterns in real time.

That said, access is uneven. Markets such as India, Brazil, and Indonesia show high smartphone usage, while others lag behind. Additionally, device type, operating system, and bandwidth speed all influence user experience. Designing mobile-first, low-bandwidth versions improves usability.

9. Remote Face-to-Face

Platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams have transformed the feasibility of conducting face-to-face interviews and group sessions internationally. These tools reduce costs, remove travel barriers, and allow researchers to moderate sessions from a central location.

However, the digital divide remains. Remote sessions often skew toward urban, affluent, and younger demographics with reliable internet. Where digital literacy is low, researchers should pair this method with offline approaches to ensure representative sampling.

The Next Step in Effective International Research

International market research is never one-size-fits-all. The methods you choose must match the realities of your target region—whether you’re navigating regulatory red tape, limited infrastructure, or cultural nuance. Getting it wrong can be expensive. Getting it right can set the stage for long-term success.

Kadence specialises in helping brands move beyond assumptions. With local teams in key markets across Asia, the US, and Europe, we bring grounded insight, real-world feasibility, and cultural fluency to your research process.

Get in touch to learn how we can support your next international launch with data-led precision and deep regional expertise.

In this guide we explain how to do international market research, exploring the key considerations to set you up for success.

Why is conducting international marketing research so important?

Whatever you think of it, globalisation is now a fact of life. For more than half a century, the biggest brands in the world have operated on a truly international scale. But in the past 25 years – the internet era – an ability to service global markets much more easily has made an international footprint even more compelling.

Near-universal penetration of the internet – often via a smartphone, equipped with GPS locators, camera and microphone – has created low-friction access for brands into markets they didn’t even know existed. Global supply chains and logistics make serving overseas markets easier than ever. And although there have been notable blips – in the form of sanctions, national protectionism and policy decisions such as Brexit – the overall trajectory is towards fewer tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade.

All that adds up to international business no longer being the preserve of multi-billion dollar blue-chip names; or even mid-corporate specialists and cool brands. Any company can now expand beyond their local market. International marketing today is a much more open field.

But the Covid-19 pandemic has also reminded us that within that global picture, markets evolve unpredictably. And they have always been subject to rapid change driven by local conditions, culture and consumption patterns.

That’s made multi-market insights even more useful for global brands already operating internationally – and any business planning to grow ‘overseas’ for the first time. Marketing research is important even at ‘home’. But in brand-new target markets with high potential, it’s nothing short of critical.

Finding a balance – with pertinent local insights or the one hand, and global uniformity for brand consistency on the other – can be a huge challenge. Marketing textbooks include plenty of examples of a failure to localise products and services, mistranslations of brand messaging (some of which are urban legends…) and other cultural blunders.

That’s made market research a crucial tool for business looking to foreign markets, both to help generate insights that can be benchmarked across their global consumer base; aggregated to inform global decisions; and ensure international progression isn’t tripped up by nuances that demand locally tailored marketing or even products themselves.

Big world, small questions – How to embark on an international market research project

So what does it take to run an international market research project? One fundamental truth about market research holds true whatever you want to find out: the tighter the brief, the more useful the results.

That’s not to say brands could, or should, never conduct wide-ranging and open-ended research studies to test general attitudes or behaviours on a global scale. But while that kind of ‘scene-setting’ work can be very valuable in one location, country or even cultural context, it can be much harder to come up with firm conclusions when you’re trying to be ‘global’. International market research might start out with the intention of finding global commonalities or appetites, but the data collected will rarely reveal universal insights.

It’s more a question setting out the kinds of insights that might drive operational, product design or branding decisions for different markets. Country specific norms for consumers and logistics will affect the brief. And different nations, cultures and infrastructure will dramatically affect the available research methodologies, too. Again: it’s not impossible to design international research projects that have perfect consistency in methodology – but for many situations, it’s also not necessarily going to deliver the biggest return on investment.

There is significant value in getting inputs from research professionals even before setting the brief. Getting those right at the outset helps the market researchers you work with get a clearer idea of how they might target their investigations and sets expectations about what’s possible – whether you’re looking at a single overseas market, the potential for an entire region or tailoring local research work to evaluate global possibilities for your brand.

International, regional or global? Approaching international market research

That decision – one or two new markets, a region (perhaps opened up thanks to changes in logistics infrastructure) or a global snapshot – probably won’t be defined by the research process itself.

For the biggest brands, global methodologies (which you can learn more about here) such as brand trackers might seem to be universal. But you still need to localise the process to draw broad conclusions. This isn’t simply a question of ensuring that two completely different markets generate results that can be compared at the global level to inform business decisions. National and regional situations are constantly evolving, adding different contexts that research should be able to factor in. Just like running focus groups around a large country, the broad methods might be the same, but the way you ask questions and interpret answers needs finesse.

The biggest global brands – such as Starbuck or McDonald’s – often undertake localisation work on their products and services, too. The Tsukimi Burger is alien to anyone outside Japan, for example. Research conducted to support these market-specific development projects is usually undertaken by local teams. But decision-makers at these companies’ HQs will still expect research supporting those decisions to meet their global standards.

For companies breaking into foreign markets for the first time, similar rules apply. They will have a standard of insight they demand from research; but they will benefit hugely from working with research teams or agencies who understand the local cultures, dialects and the most productive research methodologies.

So right at the inception we need to ask some basic questions:

  • Are we looking to assess products that present uniformly across the globe? (An iPhone is the same everywhere; a chocolate recipe might not be.)
  • How would we tailor products or positioning for a local audience? (Is this just packaging, for example, or tweaks to the features to adapt them to local conditions or cultural norms.)
  • What are the financial implications of these decisions? (Tailoring research to local markets and contextualising the outputs against your global strategic objectives is usually fascinating work. But will it create valuable enough insights to offset the cost of both the research itself and the tailoring?)

Speaking our language

One of the biggest issues for research internationally is translating your project into different languages (we explore that in detail here). That means not just the questionnaires or scripts that you use, but the brief (so local fieldwork teams understand your intent), the responses and insight reports.

In the era of Google translate (and, to a lesser extent, the use of English in many markets) this might not seem so difficult. But the nuances of language can be a major pitfall for brands and for research projects. Remember, even dialects and local idiom can affect both the meaning of a survey response, a focus group transcript or even the focus of a question.

Language and culture across South East Asia is incredibly diverse, so you can’t simply treat it as a homogenous region. Even in India (see our article on breaking the markets there) there are dozens of languages and cultural identities. And in Canada, for example, you need translators who know Quebecois, not just French. Making small mistakes can undermine engagement and trust, and it’s usually a relatively easy thing to get right if you know what to look for.

These language traps are particularly acute for qualitative work assessing softer or more descriptive product features or emotional product branding –especially if there is a very strong global brand identity that needs to be maintained around any local variation.

Working with local teams to ensure the meaning of questionnaires and responses is captured, not just literal translations, helps ensure marketing decision-makers aren’t trapped. Specialist translation services and research teams on the ground but who are in on the initial project brief are hugely valuable.

Two women having a conversation

Realities on the ground – how cultural nuances can influence your choice of methodology for international market research

There are huge variations in the cultural acceptance of different research methodologies too. In some countries, certain methodologies simply don’t work that well. You might find a survey on WeChat in China works well; but in some markets, you may need to spend more time building rapport with consumers – and allow them a sense of anonymity to build the confidence they need to be open with you. This worked well on a recent project in Saudi Arabia, for example, where we conducted an online community.

Some societies have historically been more open to face-to-face research rather than online approaches (although this is changing as a result of the pandemic), so we often recommend a blended approach to get to comparable levels of insight versus other markets where this might be attainable exclusively through online methodologies.

Even between Germany and the UK the research context varies hugely.  A lot of cultural nuance is rooted in history, too. In eastern Germany, for example, the folk memory of the Stasi is still recent history for many older people – which informs attitudes towards research and certain methodologies. So what you ask, how, where and when will differ in Leipzig compared to Paris or Birmingham, say. (And in much of the US, respondents will typically tell you much more than you need to know!)

And even well-understood quantitative methodologies – that you might think don’t require that linguistic nuance – need to be properly calibrated. For example, point scales vary around the world. In China, people are more open to giving 8s, 9s and 10s; in the UK, these are much rarer. If that’s not factored in it can skew important localisation decisions.

Research projects also need to account for infrastructure and social norms. If you’re investigating the relative strength of a drinks brand, for example, knowing how many people have access to refrigeration at home or whether drinking in the street is frowned upon will be important.

Online – not entirely global

Culture, history, consumption patterns, economics, language and infrastructure aren’t the only variations that need to be taken into account for an international research project. Technology has a potentially huge impact on the types of research you can conduct and how well it works.

The rate of adoption of devices and quality of connectivity in each market is a big factor. In some developing countries, you’ll need to tailor a more light-touch experience, with lower bandwidth requirements for online and mobile methodologies; in others, you can use more data-intensive approaches that are demanding on bandwidth and storage.

The smartphone has flattened out some of the methodological variety between markets, it’s true. Take Indonesia, for example. It was always very much a face-to-face market. But that is changing, as the need to inform faster decision making grows, with research through online panels– like our KOINS panel – taking off.

But there are still very clear cultural differences that mean it’s not simply a question of getting every market to download the same app, for example. Yet again, local knowledge is key – not just of those cultural or technological norms, but also of regulation. Data protection laws vary widely, for example.

Online survey methodologies can also lay traps on language. A couple of years ago, lots of brands were interested in the idea from Scandinavia of ‘hygge’ – a king of super-relaxed personal indulgence. There is also a word in Dutch to imply a notion of ‘coziness’, but it’s a different concept. If that crops up in responses, is it the same thing or not? Automated keyword searching and the surging use of AI analytics might not give you the whole picture.

In short: think global, research local

The smartest headquarters’ marketing teams already understand what needs to be tailored locally and what of their global branding they can apply in existing or new export markets. Knowing you can apply product branding across different markets can mean finding huge economies of scale in creative execution and being able to hook local variation into a wider brand image.

They will also trust either local marketing teams, or research specialists with local knowledge, to adapt both marketing and product sets to the conditions in their target markets. They need to know for each market what’s driving the local nuance and how to marry those with the logistical, economic and branding issues around that market.

And they know that whether it’s the attempt to tests global opinions, the openness of local consumers to existing products and branding or to uncover creative and value-creating local adjustments to products and messaging, there is no substitute for in-the-field expertise of a research partner capable of delivering to brief with the most appropriate methodologies.

The old phrase ‘think global, act local’ might be a tired truism. But when it comes to the way research is conducted to optimise performance in global markets, it’s still the number one rule.

Looking to embark on an international market research project?

Learn more about our international research capabilities, or request a proposal to discuss an international research project with us.

Market research is critical for driving growth. It can inform strategy development, product development and marketing, setting you up for success. But it’s even more important when it comes to growing your business in countries outside of your home market. 

The global market research process looks different from domestic market research and requires a different approach in order to get the best results. In this article, we’ll break down why global market research is so important, the challenges involved, and how to do it as effectively as possible.

What is global market research?

Global market research is an umbrella term for the collection and analysis of information that companies undertake in a country that isn’t their domestic market. This includes designing the study, conducting the fieldwork, analysing the data and reporting the results – and can pertain to anything from customer understanding to product development research. It differs from market research that takes place domestically, with an understanding of cultural differences being crucial to its successful execution. 

Why is global market research important?

Global market research serves a number of important purposes. It helps companies understand their current or potential customers in international markets. These markets — and the people in them — are often radically different from your domestic market in many significant ways.

Failing to understand the often subtle distinctions between different global markets and gain a solid understanding of them before you launch a product can be a critical mistake that costs companies dearly.

Market research is equally important in global markets where you already operate. Here, it helps companies feel out new potential product launches and marketing campaigns, understand how numerous factors in those areas may have changed since they last conducted research, and better understand the feelings of their customers internationally.

Here are some of the main reasons to prioritize global market research:

What works well at home might fall flat abroad. You may have heard of Starbucks. It’s one of the most successful businesses in its home market of the US and is a hit with customers in many other countries across the globe. In many cities around the world, you’ll find a Starbucks almost on every corner.

In Italy, however, its presence is more limited. This is because the Italian coffee culture is profoundly different from what Starbucks offers, and the Italian public simply doesn’t have much of an appetite for the brand. The fact Starbucks has been able to gain a foothold there is an impressive achievement in itself and was only possible by significantly altering its product range — a change driven by extensive market research and collaboration with local businesses. 

It allows you to improve operations and save costs. Market research helps you gain a more thorough and clear understanding of your new markets and the logistical and practical steps involved in operating there.

This allows you to get your operations right the first time, avoiding expensive mistakes and delays and streamlining the process so you can maximize your chances of overall success.

It helps you understand your competition and what you’re getting into. When it comes to new global markets and expanding into different cultures, competition is a huge factor. Market research helps you understand your competition so you can compete effectively and avoid being completely eclipsed by more popular brands.

When Best Buy attempted to move into the Chinese market, it failed miserably, closing all its stores in the country just five years later. Why did this attempt fail so badly? Ultimately, it was due to local competition.

Local, smaller Chinese electronics companies were able to offer similar products at a much lower price by paying staff less and offering fewer benefits. They also had stores in more accessible locations, catering to a more bike-based and less car-based customer population.

Had Best Buy spent more time researching the local market, they may have taken a different approach, or opted not to expand into China at all.
It allows you to identify new opportunities you may not have otherwise considered. By better understanding your market through research, you’ll be able to pinpoint new opportunities to grow, generate ideas for new products and strategies, and innovate in a way that increases your chances of success.

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The challenges of global market research

Doing market research on a global scale can be much more challenging than doing it domestically and there are many more factors and variables to consider. Much of your market research will involve speaking to customers in markets that differ from your home country. This can be difficult for many reasons:

Cultural

Some international markets will be home to a vastly different culture from your domestic market. This can make research difficult. It’s important to respect cultural norms and take these differences into account both when designing your research approach and analysing your results. 

For example, in some cultures, like in China, people might be more inclined to moderate their views in a group setting, making it harder to get to the heart of an issue in a focus group, for instance. Understanding this can help you determine which methodology to choose, along with how to probe, and what to look for when you’re analysing the data.

Linguistic

Carrying out customer surveys, focus groups, in fact, anything involving interviews and questions poses obvious linguistic barriers in foreign markets. This makes global research particularly challenging. You’ll need to be able to connect with respondents and understand their views in the local language. Understanding nuances and ensuring key details aren’t lost in translation is vital, so it pays to work with native speakers to help you navigate these issues. 

Logistical

Finding appropriate facilities to conduct research in a different market can be tough, particularly if you’re working on logistically challenging projects such as central location tests or taste tests, where you also need to factor in transporting products for consumers to test in person. For this, it’s important to plan ahead so you can anticipate problems and delays that might not exist in your home market.

Legal

In many parts of the world, there are laws and regulations in place that you’ll need to consider when designing your research approach. For example, Europe’s GDPR or Singapore’s PDPA.

(More information on the challenges of global market research and how to overcome them can be found in this article).

The right way to do global market research

Learn as much as possible about the regions you’re targeting

Before you start actually speaking to people and conducting market research, it’s essential to gain a thorough understanding of the region you’ll be working in. This helps avoid or mitigate many of the cultural and linguistic challenges mentioned above.

Find out as much as possible about the demographics, laws, culture, language etc of your chosen region. Publicly available resources can help with this. You may be able to access government statistics or reports that can give an illuminating view of the business landscape for companies in your industry in your chosen market and what other firms are doing. This can provide you with a solid base for your research before you even start talking to your target audience.

Design an effective research approach, rooted in your understanding of the market

You need to design a research approach that works in the context of the market. Every region of the world is different, sometimes in quite startling ways, from your domestic market. It’s important to make sure your research is designed in a way that reflects that.

This is important when you’re considering what methodology to use. For instance, you’ll need to ensure that if you’re conducting online research in China, the platform will need to be mobile-first due to the technological leapfrog the country has  experienced. 

(For more information about conducting online research in Asia, read our best practice guide)

It’s also important when thinking about sampling. For example, when conducting research in Vietnam, it’s essential to understand the striking cultural differences between North and South. People in the North tend to favour well-known brands, whereas those in the South are typically more open to new experiences,Make sure you think carefully about who you want to research at the outset, and if you are exploring an entire country, beware that these nuances do exist. 

One of the best ways to really immerse yourself is by working with an agency that has boots on the ground, and offices in the location you want to explore. This allows you to build a research strategy that is adapted to your new market, helping you to obtain valuable insights.

Collect the data and analyse the results, bringing cultural understanding to bear 

Once you’ve designed your approach, you’re ready to embark on the research itself. 

There are multiple methods you can use here, such as:

  • In-person interviews
  • Online surveys
  • Focus groups
  • Online or mobile research 

Each method has its own pros and cons, and the best research strategies will contain a blend of several approaches. Again, cultural understanding is really important here. 

This can impact the way you approach every element of your research. For example, when writing a questionnaire in Japan, it’s important to acknowledge the cultural aversion to giving negative feedback. Here, if you used a typical 5-point Likert scale, responses might tend to end up right in the middle, giving an unhelpful result. Instead, try a 4-point scale to give a clear indication of attitudes or intent. 

The next step is analysis, where again, a deep understanding of the market is critical to be able to properly interpret the results and to compare between countries. In Vietnam, for instance, it’s common for Vietnamese respondents to show high interest levels when asked about their likelihood to purchase a product. But these responses are not always realistic — many Vietnamese people will enthusiastically signal their desire to buy a product even when they don’t have the economic means to realistically do so. It’s important to cross-reference these results with other market data for a more reliable result. 

Remember to account for translation or working with native speakers at this point to ensure success too.

Looking to embark on a global market research project?

Global market research is an essential process for any company looking to expand into different international markets or grow their presence in existing ones. It allows you to optimize your chances of success when trying new things in markets that may be profoundly different from your domestic market in numerous ways. It also helps you understand those markets much more keenly so you can better serve your customers there.

There are lots of variables that can make the research process for global market research projects much more challenging. It’s important to take the time to understand your new market before you begin the research process.

However, if done right, global market research can be a critical factor in mounting a successful market entry attempt, marketing campaign, or product launch allowing you to expand your brand across the world and reach entirely new levels of growth.
At Kadence, we help businesses all over the world expand into new global markets by carrying out in-depth and localised research. Contact us to find out more about how we can help you do the same.

Market segmentation — the process of breaking your market into segments according to factors like needs, past behavior and more — is essential if you want to gain a clear understanding of your customers and target them effectively.

Companies that use market segmentation successfully can access a whole range of benefits. Segmented marketing tends to perform significantly better, and many of the world’s most successful brands have rigorously segmented their markets for decades. 

However, market segmentation is also wrought with challenges. Depending on the scale, it can be a major operation that requires a large number of resources and work. In this article, we’ll look at 5 of the main challenges facing companies as they conduct market segmentation, and how to mitigate them.

Why market segmentation is so important

Market segmentation allows you to divide your market into smaller groups, which comes with a whole range of powerful benefits. Here are some of the main advantages:

It gives you greater focus. By segmenting your market, you can target the right groups with the right products. The alternative is taking a one-size-fits-all approach, targeting a vast range of different people with the same product and marketing message, which is far less likely to convert any given person.

With segmentation you can use a different strategy for each group, tailoring your approach so your customers get more choice and a higher chance of getting exactly what they want — or at least much closer to what they want as you can offer.

It can give your brand a stronger identity. Brands and products that try to appeal to everyone often satisfy nobody. Look at highly successful brands like Coca-Cola and McDonald’s — they know who they are appealing to, the needs they want to meet and they don’t try to pretend otherwise. Nobody is drinking a coke or eating a Big Mac to be healthy or lose weight, they do it for the taste and convenience.

These brands are able to forge a strong and memorable brand identity by focusing on specific segments of the market and specific needs: in this case, people who want a refreshing and tasty beverage on the go and people who want fast, convenient food. They’re not trying to appeal to healthy gym-goers or people looking for an expensive sit-down meal, so they’re able to focus their marketing and product range exclusively on their true target market. This allows them to build a clear and unmistakable brand.

It reveals opportunities for innovation. Segmenting your market can illuminate new areas for innovation that you may have missed otherwise. You’ll notice ideas for new products, tweaks you can make to existing lines, and new campaigns to create.

When you divide your market into smaller segments, you’ll notice that some groups have a demand for specific things. If you treat your entire market as one block, these distinctions can easily get lost in the noise.

More accurate and targeted marketing. When you segment your market, you can speak to your customers in each respective group more directly. This allows you to create marketing campaigns and use channels that are much more tailored to your audience.

For example, some customers might respond extremely well to TikTok content, whereas others may be completely missed by that. Segmenting your market helps you avoid wasting money by targeting the wrong people, so you can optimize your marketing budget and maximize results.


It can drive international expansion for your brand. Entering a new market is fraught with challenges. But segmentation can help you hone in when it comes to launching your brand in a new market to give you a better chance of success. Segmentation allows you to target consumers with precision. You can then tailor your approach to the specific customer groups in that country, rather than simply using the same strategies you used in a different place.

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The challenges of market segmentation

Market segmentation, while incredibly useful, can be challenging to conduct and implement.  Here are some of the main challenges you’ll likely encounter when segmenting your market, with our top tips on how to overcome them:

1. Cost

Segmentation is an investment. Splitting your market into groups means you’ll have to do some things, for instance, marketing campaigns, multiple times in different ways. This can work out to be more expensive than simply running one campaign aimed at a single market.

There isn’t really any way to avoid this challenge. The cost of market segmentation is always going to be an investment, but if done right, the extra revenue you will generate from targeting the segments that represent the best opportunities for your brand will more than pay for the initial investment.  

2. Understanding that people can belong to multiple segments 

It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that each potential customer belongs solely in one  specific segment. However, this is an oversimplification. Imagine you’re selling a brand of wine. One of your segments might be wine connoisseurs who enjoy drinking at bars with friends.  Another segment might be those who drink to unwind at home.

One person could fall into both of these segments, depending on factors like the time of the week and their current social schedule. People are individuals, after all, and their habits and desires can change based on environment and mindset. 

Bear this in mind when you’re approaching a segmentation, particularly in FMCG, and consider segmenting based on occasions, asking people about different scenarios to ensure their diverse needs are represented. 

3. Keeping segments precise

Segmentation only works when segments are clearly defined and are distinct from one another. If your segments are too broad and vague, you’ll lose out on many of the benefits of market segmentation because you’re not able to tailor your approach precisely enough. 

To ensure your segments are narrow and clear enough, it helps to create detailed personas for each one. A persona is a fictional profile that encapsulates the core qualities of each segment, including their needs, behaviours and motivations, based on the initial research. The purpose of personas are to bring to life the segments and demonstrate how they differ from one another.

For example, if you’re selling a brand of bottled water, one of your personas might be “Healthy Harry” who buys water to drink during workouts or while doing sports events. His persona profile would contain a range of information from what motivates him and to what he’s looking for in a product. The more detail, the better — this helps you create precise and tailored segments.

 4. Selecting the right segments to focus on

It can be easy to overlook some potentially promising groups when segmenting your market.

For example, you might end up disproportionately targeting one segment that makes up a big section of the market, when another might be a more natural fit for your product.

Remember, the benefit of segmentation is that it can enable you to be incredibly precise and personalised in your approach. This means that even when targeting segments that make up smaller proportions of the market, you will still see significant returns. 

It’s important to take your time in this phase of the segmentation to ensure you identify the right market segments or you’ll risk missing out on some lucrative avenues for growth.

5. Embedding the segmentation in your organisation

When people try to anticipate the difficulties involved in running a segmentation, the research approach is often the first thing to come to mind. But the real challenge for many organisations is in embedding the segmentation. This is of crucial importance if the segmentation is to drive change and growth for the business.

A segmentation is only as powerful as its internal champions. Fail to get stakeholders on board in the beginning and you’ll have a tough job ahead of you getting people to harness the segmentation to inform strategic decisions and realise the resulting benefits. 

We recommend taking an active approach to stakeholder management, making this a crucial element of the study’s design. Start with stakeholder interviews to secure buy-in to the project, then keep these people involved throughout. Towards the end of the project, visual outputs can help bring segments to life and keep them front of mind when stakeholders are making decisions. Workshops can also be a useful tool for taking the segmentation and using this to inform your strategy. 

Market segmentation is a powerful tool for businesses. It allows you to improve your product range, tailor your marketing, and increase your chances of connecting with customers and growing your brand.

Although the process can be challenging, it’s well worth taking the time to anticipate the potential barriers and work around them. At Kadence, we help companies of all kinds with market segmentation, mitigating the challenges while boosting their chances of success. Contact us to find out more about how we can help you do the same.


Entering the Chinese market is a strategic priority for many brands. But like any market entry project, whilst the rewards are great, so are the risks. Success relies on conducting nuanced research so you’re able to develop a comprehensive Chinese market entry strategy. In this article, we’ll share our top tips for getting this right based on our experience helping brands across categories break into the Chinese market. You can also conduct our ultimate guide for market entry for further information.

The pros and cons of getting into China

Potential market entry benefits and barriers in China

Benefits to exploreBarriers to consider
There’s money to be made there. It’s a huge and growing economy.China is incredibly competitive – with both domestic and foreign brands in play.
Consumer appetite is evolving all the time, creating openings for new brands, products and services.It’s dangerous to make assumptions about the state of the market – and long-term planning can be tough.
Wealth is spreading, creating evolving demand and growth in most categories.There are still huge differences between the top-tier cities and the rest; and between urban and rural markets.
Chinese consumers tend to like branded goods and seek out quality where they can.Domestic Chinese brands have upped their game into premium spaces.
“If you can make it there…” Learn the lessons from breaking into China, and you’ll have valuable insights for other international expansion.China has some unique attributes – including tough regulation of key industries and some long-standing consumer attitudes that might never shift.

All that being said, China is obviously a vast market, with 1,394,000,000 people. That means even capturing a small niche or focusing on one region or even city can result in big revenues.

China has more than 600 cities often broken down into four tiers. First-tier cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Tianjin and Chongqing are usually classified as having a GDP over $300bn (about the size of the entire South African economy). In these, and the tier-two cities, there is widespread demand for products and services that aren’t being catered for domestically.

And despite the fast development of homegrown brands, for many consumers, overseas brands retain an allure. So although the execution of any brand proposition needs to adjust to the needs of the market – and in a country as diverse as this, market research proves itself invaluable in this respect – a look at China must be a consideration for any growth-minded business.

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When to consider developing a China market entry strategy

We see a few different prompts for brands wanting to explore the Chinese market. One is where similar products or services are performing well there, with attributes that might be replicable. For example, we’ve seen strong demand for premium Korean cosmetics recently – it’s a sign similar propositions might fly. In niche areas such as luxury handbags and cars these is a persistent strong demand for foreign brands.

Those buying patterns are highly visible. But we can also pick up less obvious trends in consumer behaviour that give clues as to potential in China. For example, we’ve seen a growing love among the Chinese middle classes for avocados. (It’s not just 2016-vintage millennial hipsters!) That suggests possibilities for brands that take the time to probe shifting attitudes.

In the first case, then, we’re looking for product features and brand offering. In the second, we’re exploring new consumer behaviours – although in each case we need to evaluate whether this is a fundamental change in consumer mindsets, or just a fad.

Underlying all that needs to be the economic rationale for entering the Chinese market. We might be able to detect strong potential demand. But will the costs of entering and sustaining this vast market – especially given its competitive nature – make sense? Remember that China has a number of regulations on commerce and media. We’ll come back to that later, but it has a bearing on the risks, and therefore the economics, of market entry.

Don’t be arrogant – success in China isn’t guaranteed

It should be obvious by now that one of the biggest opportunities is bringing in a premium, overseas brand to woo and wow the expanding Chinese middle class. But don’t be fooled by that stereotype – and don’t assume that you can just transplant existing brand approaches and expect to deliver results.

For a start, the way you deploy advertising and tailor packaging will be crucial. Chinese consumers will often be swayed by the way brands are presented, so understanding exactly how people are responding to the brand image and packaging can’t be ignored.

Then don’t assume just because you’re a foreign brand that you’ll attain a ‘premium’ differentiation. Fifteen years ago, there was almost an automatic patina of exoticism attached to non-domestic brands; they were more likely to be seen as classy and rare, helping maintain margins. Today, local brands in many categories are considered to be delivering a premium, too. And for many consumers, reliable quality and attractive features are the acid test, not the brand image.

Categories are not universal

Market research can reveal exactly how your brand might be received, and whether or not it’s going to attract any kind of premium. It’s also extremely useful at understanding which parts of any given category represent an opportunity in China – and which might be duds.

At a recent industry conference, we heard how a extremely well-known global drinks brand approached this problem. Ideally it would have rolled out its full slate of premium-branded alcoholic beverages, creating leverage around ad spend, logistics and exploiting halo effects. But while whisky is a strong segment in China, for example, wine is a much smaller niche.

At that point, another decision comes into play: research might show you which sub-categories are worth pursuing. But you also think how to enter these sub-categories. For that luxury drinks brand, for example, do they pitch the quality of the alcohol? Is it trying to project ‘conviviality’ for consumers? Is it the product heritage – seeking that ‘foreign premium’ angle? Or is it the look and feel of the products on the shelf?

The same rule applies the other way around. Yes, there are categories that are highly unlikely to be fertile ground for overseas brands – such as food, for example. It’s intensely competitive, demands a sensitivity to local tastes … but yet there might be openings in the right niche.

Or take transport. In electric vehicles, China is some way ahead of most non-Chinese manufacturers. But outside that sub-category, partnerships with local auto-makers and dealers could yield good results. Research can help uncover where these niches might be.

Cars at night, China

Learn from others – analysing the China market entry strategy adopted by others can set you up for success

The Chinese market has been growing at pace for 40 years, so at this point there are few areas where someone else in your sector hasn’t had a go at joining the fray. Indeed, many big global businesses will have in-house experience of breaking China – and making sure the lessons from one brand, product, category or local market entry are learned for subsequent attempts is obviously crucial.

Then look at the history of the category – there will almost certainly be rival brands that have tried and failed to launch in China before you (and some that have succeeded). Analysing what they did right and wrong can reveal all kinds of lessons.

Marrying those insights with up-to-date and well-briefed market research is a recipe for success. The phasing goes something like this:

  • Work out where the existing opportunities lie – what can we see from published market data, the level of competition, and products or services doing well in similar markets (especially in South East Asia – countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines are also fast-evolving, diverse, vibrant and digital)?
  • Evaluate local competition, emerging players, and regulatory and economic risks. These will include local rules on product specifications, or potential requirements to partner locally.
  • Work out why there’s a gap – and why you’re well placed to exploit it. Landscape studies should also highlight consumer appetites that will help or hinder progress.
  • Look at who’s failed doing something similar and why; and who’s made their inroads work, and why.
  • Research the evolution of the market – things change fast. Who’s up-and-coming? What are the evolving consumer habits? How will you stay on top of changes?

“Can my brand expand in China?”

Regardless of what you want to test, brand is a key issue in Chinese markets. Food, for instance, is a crowded market, so launching a new product to stretch the brand is always tricky. Research can tell you whether halo effects will work in China – and how to exploit (and not devalue) existing brand equity.

For example, we recently worked with a confectionery company on the possible launch of a newly acquired brand in China. We ran taste tests, but also explored what the new brand might mean to Chinese consumers versus how it would be perceived under the umbrella brand of the parent company. 

China is a fairly mature market, and there were a similar products in the market. So was it worth bringing in the new brand? Should they use the parent company’s branding to muscle into the segment? A big issue was how the new product might alter the existing overarching brand story if that was the case. Should it be a standalone brand?

We focused on one tier one city to establish the opportunity. In tier three or four cities, responses might have called into question the brand strategy – but the top-tier cities where a particular strategy might work are a very sizeable market on their own. But it’s still worth developing insights to frame that brand strategy, not just tailor a product.

The product’s premium taste and lavish packaging made its core product a hit for gift-giving Chinese, even at premium prices. But this project showed there are important areas for research to test what powers a brand has in new spaces in a market as sophisticated as China.

Shopping mall in China

Research – set a baseline, monitor change

China’s rapid evolution means ‘the future’ is much nearer than many people think, however. We can assess the probable changes over the short term; the plausible over the medium term; and the possible in the long term. But when we research Chinese markets and opportunities, it’s extremely wise to keep an eye on what looks ‘long term’ because it can arrive quicker than in many other markets.

That’s one reason for entering the market with as detailed an understanding as possible is important: yes, it might change quickly – but you need a solid framework for local conditions and consumer attitudes to ensure you can monitor what’s changing, how fast and in which direction.

The good news is that Chinese consumers, very broadly, tend to be very tech-savvy. (The WeChat platform, for example, is more widespread than Facebook – with about a billion active monthly users, it’s near-universal – and has many more practical applications.) This tech-savviness is particularly useful for conducting online research, allowing for fast-turnaround methodologies and investigating consumers outside the big tier one cities. In short, it’s ideal to capture rapid changes from the baseline. And unlike some Western markets, China’s older population seems determined to be digital, narrowing the gap we see in some other countries’ research approaches.

But we would rarely suggest only conducting research online. In the huge markets of the big cities, face-to-face research is still the best way to test behavioural and experiential aspects of consumers’ lives and tailor your approach to their unique expectations and requirements.

Top tips for market research in China

  • Be open about what you want to achieve in China and be realistic about who the product or service might appeal to. China is huge and diverse, so pace yourself and target realistically.
  • Calibrate your results. It can feel daunting competing in a crowded marketplace with strong domestic rivals. But it’s a long game: what look like tiny positives from research compared to other markets can be valuable toe-holds, establishing your brand for more serious revenue growth later; or guiding your focus on high-potential niches.
  • Tailor your questions. You can’t be too assumptive about what people might be prepared to pay for a product or service and asking standard questions in surveys and focus groups might not help. Get your research team to develop a China-specific (and even city-specific) research plan to get into the nuances.
  • If it’s online, think mobile first. Not everyone has a laptop but due to encountering a “technological leapfrog” most people have a smartphone. You can conduct extensive studies very flexibly with mobile methodologies.
  • Test the tech. China does have more controls on internet activity than most. Test that the research platform functions properly, especially if running a study from outside its borders.
  • Work with local experts. Research teams with local knowledge and experience will be invaluable. These tips come as second nature and on-the-ground teams or those in the region with an intimate knowledge of China. They will provide essential depth to research – and frame insights more meaningfully.
  • Think about the media. Consumers love to use their phones to research brands and products, and especially influencers and social media users. Willingness to try brands often stems from these forms of media.

In most other markets – that are less fast-moving or exciting as China – your traditional strategies can secure your traditional wins. In China, research can tell you how and where you might chip away at competitors to help you target your offering more effectively – winning a slice of this lucrative market. It can also help you create a China strategy where the wins look entirely different – and deliver results that make a real difference.

If you’re considering entering the Chinese market, get in touch to discuss how we might be able to help you to build your China market entry strategy.