Trade Promotion Best Practices » Market information services

Productpilot: A nice case of customer orientation and media integration

Alfons van Duijvenbode — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 12:14:14 +0000

Messe Frankfurt is one of the world’s most prominent organizers of trade shows, bringing buyers and sellers together. Through the Productpilot.com service, businessmen now have one single gateway to find useful company and product descriptions of exhibitors participating at any of the Frankfurt shows.

Information about exhibitors and trends
Productpilot.com is an innovative platform – free of charge – for trade information by the Messe Frankfurt. Every trade fair of Messe Frankfurt is visible on-line for businessmen who want to have an impression of the new trends and exhibitors at the fairs.

A userfriendly search opens up information from an exhibitor database by sector or keyword. Exhibitors can add new products and developments to their profile any time. On top of that, Productpilot offers information related to trends in the specific sectors and markets.

…. with video reports
Maybe the most eye-catching of all is Productpilot.tv, which is integrated with Productpilot.com. It is a video report service through which businessmen can now have an impression of the new trends and exhibitors at the fairs, by video. Every Frankfurt trade show has its own video channel on the new platform. The video reports typically show company stands, new products on display and interviews with exhibitors. So, if you are not able to visit the trade shows in Frankfurt, you can still get an excellent update on the latest trends and a selection of exhibitors.

A best practice of customer orientation and media integration
Productpilot uses the Internet as an integrated information channel, without the visitor having to register or pay for certain information. Through Productpilot, the Messe Frankfurt demonstrates it fully understands the needs of its customers. Whether it is orientation in a sector or segment offering, information about individual exhibitors, products and services, contact with prospective suppliers, it’s all there presented in a userfriendly way and integrated with value adding video reports.

Visit productpilot.com

Visit productpilot.tv

Trade promotion portals – some good practices

Alfons van Duijvenbode — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 20:47:13 +0000

Over the last few years, the iD consultancy team has provided widespread support to trade promotion organizations in developing countries and emerging economies. In many cases, the support was geared to optimize trade information services, including trade information portals as main dissemination channel. In this respect we consider that UK Trade and Invest, Austrade and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise showcase truly good practices. To name a few: The portals these organizations operate are characterized by:

excellent customer orientation, profiling and customization of information and services to different customer segments
focus on priority needs of the customers
compliance to usability standards
high quality information and advice in effective and user friendly formats
integration of information, advice, tutorials and tools
excellent ‘cross selling’ of ‘related’ information
integration with social media like Facebook, Twitter and You Tube
subscription services to newsletters and alerting systems

Last but not least, these portals are completely open to any user. There is no need to login to access certain sections or services. Therefore, we recommend to have a look at these portals as good practices in the area of trade promotion portals.

Austrade

New Zealand Trade and Enterprise

UK Trade and Invest

New service development in the Philippines

admin — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 20:27:53 +0000

Training of local experts in export marketing and management, the establishment and branding of a training center and webbased market information service have boosted the reputation of a Philippine BSO and generated new revenue streams. Below, we will provide more detailed information of a case of Philexport Cebu, Philippines. A project supported by CBI from The Netherlands, CIDA from Canada and DED from Germany.

:: Background

Philexport Cebu is an umbrella organisation, with more than 250 members, both exporters and export associations. At the start of the intervention, the situation was as follows:

Core business advocacy
Decreasing membership and revenues
Main revenue stream: One Stop Export Documentation Services
Limited service portfolio
Low visibility, poor image with donors, associations and companies
Need to diversify revenue stream, develop new customer based services, enhance image
Specific request to set up a training centre

:: Targeted results

The intervention aimed at extension of the service portfolio, structurally embedded in the organisation, with enhanced capacity of staff and local experts (LEEs), leading to:

diversified and sustainable revenue streams
higher customer satisfaction
increased membership
strongly improved image
established alliances with national and international support organisations

:: Realized results

The results achieved include the following:

Export Training and Coaching Center (ETCC) established, branded and operational
Market information service (iSearch) established, branded and operational
Organization strategies, structure and work processes adjusted and documented
More than 35 LEEs and staff trained (of which approx still 50% actively engaged after 1 yr), working under guidance of a Code of Conduct
Break-even for trainings realized
Customer satisfaction significantly increased
Membership up
Membership fee up, justified by extended service delivery
Image up, with organisation recognized as a key player in the field of export marketing training and coaching services among all stakeholders
MOUs signed with GTZ, DED, CIDA, DTI to have Philexport Cebu as preferred supplier of MI and Training and Coaching services (EU project in pipeline)
DED to provide structural capacity building support to Philexport
Requests for training and coaching coming in from beyond the region
Government providing Exporter Support fund to Philexport to implement training and coaching services to enhance competitiveness of export community in times of crisis

:: Main activities implemented

Focus group discussions with Philexport members
Needs analysis with associations and company representatives
Interviews with donors
Brainstorming sessions with Philexport management and staff
Development and implementation of Business Plans for Training and Coaching Center and Market information services
Training and coaching of Local Experts and staff
Development and implementation of training calendar and curricula by Local Experts and phased out coaching by international experts
Development of a Premium Membership model
Development and introduction of ‘light’ Market information services (highly automated – syndication based)
Development of branding campaign
Design and implementation of Donor Road show

:: How was sustainability arranged?

Embedded in long term strategy, adjusted organisation and documented work processes
Based on proper and continuous analysis of customer needs and commercial viability
Business plans as guiding and monitoring documents
Focus on different market segments (private sector, government, international organisations)
Institutional and commercial arrangements with diversified number of national and international stakeholders

More information: Philexport Cebu

Market Intelligence alerting service by Philexport Cebu, Philippines

Alfons van Duijvenbode — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 20:12:54 +0000

Philexport Cebu has successfully launched a Market Intelligence service including customized alerting by email and SMS. The service, dubbed iSearch, operates on a sustainable basis, since it has been launched as a value added service for which membership dues have slightly increased. The increase in membership dues allowed the organisation to attract an experienced market researcher to provide the new service.

The iSearch service is structured as follows:

Benefits

value added pre-processed statistics, tables, charts and graphs on key market trends per industry sector
unique, short and up-to-date market reports for 8 major sector, including competitor reports
customizable data search where you can search using your own parameters
high quality links for further references and resources
an alerting system by sms and email so that exporters are the first to know the latest trends in the priority markets

Sectors covered
Philexport has prioritized its service to cover a limited nr of sectors

Special research
iSEARCH is also capable of undertaking fee based special market studies for interested clients. Examples of such studies include identification of new potential markets, competitor profiles, market trends analysis, and credit background information on potential buyers from Dun & Bradstreet. Fees vary depending on the scope of work and time required to complete the studies.

Note: The service has been developed with support of the Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries (CBI), Pearl2 project from CIDA and the German Development Service (DED).

Export Training and Coaching Center

Alfons van Duijvenbode — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 20:41:13 +0000

Philexport Cebu, successfully set-up an export training and coaching centre. The ETCC as it is dubbed, is managed by Philexport while the coaching and training activities are conducted by CBI trained local experts. The local experts tender for assignments and are committed to a code of conduct. A considerable number of the trainers and coaches is regularly active in the field of conducting market research for individual companies and organizations, strategizing for the export sectors, conducting value chain analyses and conducting training on total quality management, and export marketing management. Among the clients are governmental bodies, individual companies, sector associations and international organizations. More information can be found at: www.philexportcebu.org

Note: The centre has been developed with support of the Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries (CBI).