Course: Access to Market (ATM)

Access to Market

Access to market refers to the ability of a company or a country to sell goods and services across
borders or to a new segment. Access to the market helps business, skill production, and increase
product quality.

What is a Market?

A market is one of the varieties of systems, institutions, procedures, and infrastructures whereby
parties engage in exchange.

Types of market

1. Physical market: A setup where buyer can physically meet the sellers and purchase their
desired merchandise from them in exchange for money. E.g shopping mall
2. Non-Physical market: Buyer purchase goods and services using internet, in this case buyer
and seller did not need to see each other before buy and sell will take place. E.g amazon,
jumia, konga.
3. Intermediate: these are the market that sell raw materials requires for the final production
of other goods.

Component of a Viable market:

 Customers’ need
 Paying customers
 Awareness of value: customer must be aware of the benefits of utilizing your product or
service.
 Willingness to pay.

Target market

A group of consumers or organisations who are most likely to buy a company’s product or service

Market Segmentation

According to learning hub, market segment is a business practice rely on research, that lead to the
direction of how a business divides it target market into smaller more manageable groups, based on
a set of common ground that they share.

Simply means, customers of each market segment, have similar characteristics that business can
leverage to optimize their marketing, advertising, and sales efforts.

Types of market segmentation

1. Geographic Segmentation: based on the consumer location.

2. Demographic Segmentation: Individual attribution i.e gender, education level, income, age.
3. Psychographic Segmentation : attitudes, aspirations, values, and others.
4. Behavioural Segmentation: behaviour of the buyers e.g usage rates, benefit types, purchase
decision

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Assessment.
1. What demographics make up your customer base?
2. Where do they live?
3. Where do they spend time online?
4. How do they search for products within your niche?
5. Who do they listen to when deciding relative to your product or service?

MARKET ANALYSIS

Market Analysis: a detailed market analysis is based on your research and visits to the target
market, which will help you make key decisions. e.g., to modify your product to suit your customers.

Value proposition: is a clear statement that offers three things:

1. Relevancy: This should help you explain how your product solves customers’ problems or
improves their situation.
2. Quantified value: helps you to explain how your products deliver specific benefits.
3. Differentiation: This should tell the ideal customer why they should buy from you, and not
from your competitors.

Note

What makes a good value proposition?

Is your product easy to understand?
Does it communicate concrete results, that customers would get from buying your product
or services?
Does it avoid hype?
Can it be read and understood in under 5 seconds?

How Market works

The market system works by producing what customers want for the least cost. These wants are
communicated by the prices that the customers are willing to pay for products and services.

The essential feature of the market is the freedom for customers to buy what they want and the
freedom for the producers to produce what the customers want.

The market size is directly proportional to two factors.

1. Number of sellers and buyers

2. Total money involves annually

Competitors

It is important to identify current competitors, but you also need to identify your potential or future
competitors.

Ways to identify your potential or future competitors

1. Look at them from the customer’s point of view

2. Look at them from their own point of view

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Observe your competitor based on the following

1. Price points
2. Promotional strategies
3. Distribution models
4. Branding
5. Marketing positioning

Customers

The best way to approach customers in market analysis is to create a customer profile.

A customer profile is a simple tool that helps businesses better understand current and potential
customers. So that they can increases sales and grow their businesses.

The customer profile can also help develop targeted marketing plans and help ensure that products
meet the needs of their intended audience.

It identifies target customers, ascertains the need of these customers, and then specifies how the
product satisfies these needs.

VARIOUS STRATEGIES TO ACCESS MARKET

Market access strategy: the winning market strategy is needed for commercial success.

The product must benefit the customer and provide a return to the company producing the product.

Strategies for market entry:

1. Direct strategy: this is where you set up an entity within the market
2. Indirect strategy: this is where you export or distribute your good or services using a reseller,
distributor, or outsource sales.
3. Production strategy: this is done by producing your goods or services within your target
market location.

Market access tactics:

1. Build:
the company builds its distribution sales and market structures.
Mostly operate alone and directly within this new market.
2. Buy
The business can buy their way into the new market
They could buy an existing player within the market and use their capacity, competencies, and
resources to play within the new market.
3. Partner
Partnership constitutes an effective tactic of market access.
Partnerships can be done in distribution, manufacturing, and marketing.

Market Positioning

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This refers to the ability to influence customer perception regarding a brand or product (relative to
competitors)

The object of market positioning is to establish the image or identity of a brand or product so that
the consumers perceive it in a certain way. For example, a handbag maker may position itself as a
luxury status symbol. A fast-food restaurant chain might position itself as a provider of cheap meals.

Positioning strategies

Positioning refers to the place that a brand occupied in the minds of customers, and how it is
distinguished from the products of the competitor.

Type of position strategy

1. Positioning by attributes and benefits: it simply means associating your brand or product
with certain characteristics, or certain beneficial value.
2. Positioning by product quality: this is where your brand or product with high quality
3. Positioning by product use and application: this is where you associate your product or
brand with a specific use.
4. Positioning by product price: associate your product with competitive pricing
5. Positioning by competition: where you make your customers think your product is better
than your competitors

Communication Plan

A communication plan is based on the strategy used by a company or individual to reach their target
market through various types of communication.

Message medium target

Principles of communication strategy

1. Brand Alignment
2. Customer Alignment
3. Budget Alignment

Developing a market entry plan

A detailed plan will help the business to weigh its options against several factors and decide on the
best way to fully integrate itself into the market and build a sustainable market share.

Assessing internal capabilities

Your decision on how to enter a new market should be driven by internal capabilities.

Ask yourself:

How much of our core competencies can we leverage?

Do we have sales channels, infrastructure, and relationship channels in place?

What time do market considerations exist?

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These will help you prepare and know your competencies in entering a new market.

Prioritizing markets

It is important for businesses to prioritize specific markets, to be able to maximize the scarce
resources available but still achieve considerable results in market share and increase customer
acquisition and of course, revenue.

Prioritizing helps businesses narrow down on target markets and customers. It also ensures that the
position and communication to this set of customers, and their value proposition as they align with
their specific shared needs.

Markets should be prioritized based on strategic fits, and your ability to have them.

Ask yourself:

Are there gaps in this marketplace that we can fill?

What value do we deliver to this market, and how much is the market willing to pay it?

Creating a work plan

Your work plan will be based on your now extensive knowledge of your markets.

Which include

Your target markets.

Trends within the market in terms of price, demand, and supply dynamics, as well as customer
segments competitor analysis, and strategies in distribution; positioning sales

Your internal capacity

Your work plan must be specific to:

Time

Goals

Objectives

Your overall business visions.

Finally, your plan must include a budget for the implementation.

Implementation and monitoring

The plan must be implemented and monitored so that the business can adapt to real-life changes, as
it assesses the market.

All plans must give room for possible strategy changes and show how they would adapt to change.
This is where the acquired knowledge becomes an asset for the business.

In conclusion, access to markets is a necessary step for businesses to ensure that they can gain
market share, which translates to revenue. It is important that businesses understand how markets
operate, as well as the key players, and trends within the market. These are in the form of customers
and competitors.

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This should help them access their internal capacities and positioning, to help them shape their entry
strategy, which could boil down to build buy or partner.