A supply chain in most cases is a complex and dynamic supply and demand network of companies, people, activities, etc. involved in moving product or service from supplier to customer.
Understanding and measuring your company’s performance from all parts of your supply chain is critical in ensuring maximum uptake/penetration, and ultimately market share and profit.
The Market Intelligence Co. (TMIC) typically starts by mapping your supply chain to understand the product/service journey, the level of influence one part of the chain has over another, as well as to identify risks, challenges, and to understand your routes to market and channel partners.
Routes to market and channel partners are integral parts of your supply chain in terms of supplying, marketing and supporting your products and services to your customer market. Channel partners are also a stakeholder audience.
Routes to Market/Channels
No matter how great your products and services are, choosing or having the right route to market and channel partners is a key determinant of market success.
New markets
In new markets, TMIC can assist you with:
- Evaluating the distribution and routes to market landscape.
- Identifying the “strongest”/“best” distribution channels (ie. preferred by the customer market; channels).
- Identifying and prioritising potential channel partners.
Existing markets
Whilst in existing markets, TMIC can assist you with determining if you’re using the “best” route to market:
- To attain maximum market reach
- For buyers/users to easily find and source your products and services.
- To ensure that your channel partners are effective.
We can assist by independently evaluating:
- Challenges and/or potential risks that are or will be affecting your channel partners.
- Key influencers, decision makers and buying criteria in the customer market for your products and services.
- Changing user/buyer needs and requirements for your products and services.
- If your marketing activities, brand messages and collateral, are “true” and consistent in the way they are conveyed and presented across your channel/by channel partners.
- Customer market satisfaction, loyalty and engagement with your channel/channel partners.
- Your channel partners performance against your competitors channel partners (or against your own criteria).
- If you are providing your channel/channel partners with the right level of support so that the benefits of your products and services are easily communicated to the customer market.
- If information you provide is meeting your channel/channel partners needs and whether communication is open, transparent and flowing effectively in both directions, between you and your channel partners.
- If your channel partners are truly loyal and engaged.
Outputs from such research can be linked to Service Level Agreements and performance KPIs for your channel partners.
Our projects are customised and a flexible approach is adopted, as supply chain/channels are not all the same.
A variety of tools, techniques and research methods are used for this type of research, for example: Mystery Shopping, Journey Mapping, “A Day in the Life” (ethnographic), Forums/Chatrooms, internal and external Qualitative research, Secondary/Desk research, Quantitative research.