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1. INTRODUCTION

A client company were keen to assess their position in the market for a certain type of non-domestic building product. The product is widely used in the domestic environment and the company have a strong position in the non-domestic market. However, they were interested in establishing the market size, changes in underlying trends, influencing factors, shares, distribution characteristics and AMA were commissioned to research the market.

The market is relatively small and there are a limited number of competitors, the key issues were therefore to establish how to gather high quality data from the competitors or from the market place in general.

2. OBJECTIVES

the overall requirement was to enable the company to achieve an update of the size of the non-domestic building product market in terms of the following:-

• Volume and value of sales by main product groups.
• Analysis by product group
• An indication of the mix of certain building products used in non-domestic applications.
• Overall sales levels for major competitors.
• General product and market trends in these sectors.
• Key influences on the market, both external and internal.
• Price point information. Brief review of volumes per application area .
• Indication of the views held by key merchants, on the company, the brand, service, support etc.

3. METHODOLOGY

The methodology covered manufacturer and plumbers merchant telephone interviews, analysis and assessment. We included qualitative telephone discussion, in addition to the questionnaires.

Merchants / Distributors

A questionnaire was designed to meet the objectives indicated.

The target interviewees were Merchants/Distributors who are known to be of significance in the non-domestic building product sector. Some 30-35 interviews were undertaken to cover most of the major users and a selection of smaller users of these specialist building products. The market is becoming more concentrated in distribution terms, resulting in fewer merchants with a significant interest in this sector.

We also undertook 4-5 more detailed telephone interviews with the objective of gathering qualitative input on market performance, company performance etc. These interviews supplemented the questionnaires.

Manufacturers

A questionnaire was designed and agreed, with which to interview companies selling non-domestic building product products.

We identified the companies concerned and contacted them to obtain names of the most appropriate personnel for interview, we subsequently approached these personnel for interviews.

To cross check the response from these companies, we would approach different sources to gather input and any other data, from companies house, trade journals etc. through:-

• Analysing sales and turnover figures from these companies.
• Identifying members of the trade, who know the company and may provide indicators on their relevant turnover level, product mix etc.

Price Analysis

We would undertake a price point assessment for the relevant products, for the major companies in the market.

By approaching plumbers merchants, we will obtain quotes for a proposed purchase of 5 products. In some cases, we will approach the manufacturer directly for these quotes.

Collation and Analysis

Collation and analysis of the questionnaire results was undertaken by AMA, with a view to assessing the level of coverage achieved and calculating the market size information as required. This methodology provided good coverage of relevant sectors, enabling accurate identification of the market information required.

In addition, the methodology allowed identification of sectors where a lower sample level has been used and the accuracy of the information is therefore subject to a greater degree of risk.

The results were presented in the form of a written report and a meeting for discussion of the findings.

4. LOGISTICS AND TIMESCALES

A project such as this would take an elapsed time of between 6 and 8 weeks to complete, though is dependent on a number of factors and could be completed more rapidly if required.

The costs of a project such as this would be as follows:-

£8,000 - £12,000 excluding VAT.

Of course these cost will vary on a project to project basis, depending on the issues of complexity of market and products, number of interviews to be conducted, though we would provide a quote in each case to take account of these issues.

We always seek to provide a quote which is fixed, assuming the basic project objectives remain unchanged. However, in some cases, the situation is more complex and it can be impossible to provide a fixed quote, for example where we are required to buy other research information and at the commencement of the project we are uncertain as to the ultimate cost to us.

5. OUTCOMES

The project resulted in an output of a report and meeting to discuss the report, with the report containing the following key aspects:

• Market size, structure and trends.
• Key companies, overall shares, major characteristics.
• Key product groups, size, trends, key companies strong by sector.
• Distribution characteristics and shares.
• Price comparisons per product area.
• Perceived characteristics of the key suppliers from the viewpoint of the distribution sector.

This enabled the manufacturer to develop a marketing plan based on their current position, where they see their strengths and weaknesses and what they see as the product or distribution opportunities based on the research.