Market Research and the Mechanics of Exporting

CS conducts market research in support of its clients' sales and investment efforts both in the United States and overseas. Through analysis of domestic and international market conditions, ECS helps clients identify potential markets and spot specific trade and investment problems as well as opportunities.

• On behalf of an apparel trade association, ECS assessed the export expansion opportunities for apparel products in several European markets. For a prospective producer of intermediate iron and steel products, ECS evaluated and compiled publicly available data and directly surveyed potential consumers of designated iron and steel products in that market area. For a Far Eastern producer of labeling machinery, ECS assessed the demand, channels of distribution, and pricing of competing goods available in the U.S. market.

ECS helps domestic and foreign clients identify the best distribution channels for their products in the United States and abroad, while evaluating the effects of specific foreign non-tariff barriers (NTBs). NTBs can take the form of restrictive product standards or testing requirements, labeling, distribution practices, and cultural or religious practices. Additionally, ECS can provide clients with information about the structure of the market, major competitors, prices, and the mechanics of exporting.

• For several U.S. firms in a specialty consumer goods industry, ECS compiled an exporters' manual giving step-by-step instructions on how individual firms can establish a sales presence overseas. This manual is now a basic tool in the export marketing strategies of several of this industry's manufacturers.
  
  
• ECS conducted a detailed study of the feasibility of using export trading companies to promote increased exports by the U.S. textile and apparel industries. ECS prepared financial and market models and presented the results of this study at nationwide seminars sponsored by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
  
  
• ECS prepared export "fact books" on the textile and apparel markets in Japan and Korea, and countries in South America and Western Europe. The fact books covered the essentials of doing business in these countries, such as the size of the market, local production, major competitors, major distributors and retailers, price points at retail, trade shows, and trade and tariff barriers. The fact books were prepared under contract to the U.S. Department of Commerce, the American Textile Manufacturers Institute, and the American Apparel Manufacturers Association, and were used in a series of seminars conducted across the country.
  
  
• Under contract to Cotton Council International, ECS prepared export studies on seven markets. The studies examined the export market for U.S. textiles and apparel in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Belgium, Italy, Saudi Arabia, and Poland.