An international manufacturer of interior decorative products wished to ensure its spend on the provision of samples was providing a good return in each of its principal European markets and employed Competitive Advantage to conduct research.

Solution

The first phase of the project was to compare the sample process in each country. A simple survey of the company's country marketing managers was conducted. This identified the differences and similarities between markets and the issues of importance to each country. It also provided important background information for subsequent stages.

Samples are important to architects, contractors and wholesalers so focus groups were held with each category to understand what they considered important about the design of sample cards and how they used them. The focus groups were held in the company's most important markets; France, Germany and Britain. Each was conducted in the local language.

Based on the focus groups a telephone questionnaire was designed. This was then conducted in the UK, France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands using the local languages.

The findings of the report were then presented to an international meeting of the company.

Benefits

The company gained a better understanding of how samples were used, the best sizes, important aspects of layout and when requests represented buying signals.

The performance of its sample service was benchmarked against that of the competitors and opportunities for improvement were identified as well as competitor weaknesses.

The review also identified aspects of the company's operation which were missing sales opportunities and changes to the sales process were proposed to achieve business efficiencies.