Feasibility Study

An Avela Consulting Marketing Component White Paper

This paper will discuss the title topic as it applies in the China Market and will explain how Avela Consulting responds with strategies custom-structured for individual client needs.

Backstory

With some 1.4 billion people, China holds great potential as a consumer market… but this potential comes with complex  and varied costs of doing business. Of course, these costs are driven by a multitude of factors, including the product, vendor expectations, intellectual property concerns, logistics and geography just to name a few.

Impacting all these factors is the Chinese culture, and the costs cannot be accurately weighed without a calculation of how the product will be received. Associated with this is an understanding of the cost involved in making sure it is well received on levels needed to generate the desired return. There are significant regional cultural differences that render single “one size fits all” approaches to nation-wide marketing ineffective.

In order to make sound business decisions, vendors contemplating competing in the China consumer market need a rigorous analysis  of these costs with an understanding that the unexpected is always a factor to be anticipated. This information drives a host of decisions such as pricing, market segmentation, campaign strategies, launch timing and after sale service, to again just name a few.

The Avela Consulting Response

Understanding the complexity of the China market, Avela Consultants has leveraged our network of business relations that we have been building since 2002 to create a pool of experienced, China market professionals. Businesses and individuals with appropriate talents and skills are drawn from this pool to provide our clients with the information and tools needed to access Chinese consumers.

Before our clients commit to the cost of setting such a team in motion, we request they commission an Avela Consulting Feasibility Study custom fitted for their goals. Avela’s Houston office will consult directly with the client and serve as the conduit for communication with our China network of marketing expertise. For this study we draw from our pool a group of consultants germane to the project to provide a realistic appraisal of what is involved in helping our clients meet their goals in China.

This appraisal begins with a basic assessment of the market for the product in China, with recommendations on targeting niches to maximize the probability of success. This will include advanced Big and Small Data assessments of the market in China for the product, identifying probable consumer niches within the country. Cost projections will run the gamut from procedural costs such as the necessary government filings for smooth operation and intellectual property protections (to the extent possible within the evolving Chinese bureaucratic environment), to the costs associated with marketing strategies of the recommended scope to realize client goals and tax considerations.

Personnel from Avela’s Houston will present the resulting Avela Consulting Feasibility Study Report to the client, providing the data necessary to make informed decisions on whether to proceed with entry into the China market. If the decision is to proceed, the client is armed with recommendations, including rationales, costs and benefits, for strategies to maximize the probability of successfully achieving client goals.

At that point, the client may choose to continue working with Avela Consulting to refine and implement a marketing strategy resulting from the study. In that event, Avela will again draw from its China network for a culturally targeting campaign augmented with the necessary support services such as fulfillment and customer relations.

Case study

To come