Identifying a Market Entry Opportunity and Building the Business Case

The Overview:

Lifestyle brand partnered with CKG to complete and opportunity and business case development inclusive of market, industry, and category research in preparation for new market entry.

The Opportunity:

The exponential rise and dominance of fast-fashion in the last decade has paved the way for equal demand strength for the slow fashion/lasting quality category; sharply dividing consumers across the trends-to-capsule consumption spectrum.

Central to the consumer textiles conversation have been Turkish textile producers. Highly coveted for its superior quality, palatable price points, and historical craftsmanship, Turkish textile imports account for hundreds of millions of dollars year-over-year in the United States. Despite the sizable consumption, Turkish textiles are largely white-labeled by established brands in the main-street space.

Our client, an Istanbul-based hospitality provider, sought to assess the opportunity of entering the North American market within the high-street space under a new brand identity.

The Approach:

We partnered with our client in evaluating and categorizing their needs to drive impact and assess their opportunity across two main components: Market Research and Entry Strategy.

Market Research

After successfully securing their industry position in Europe, our client spent ample resources in effort to integrate the North American market. While prior investments centered around trade shows and existing e-commerce avenues, our client partnered with us to conduct a thorough market overview inclusive of industry assessment and product positioning.

CKG completed a competitive landscape analysis categorizing industry players across a brand exclusivity spectrum that served as the basis for our assessment matrix. In parallel, we conducted a product analysis exercise where we reviewed over 500 unique stock-keeping units (SKUs) to understand costumer needs and preferences, gain visibility into existing product features, and inform the overall opportunity assessment. In combination with an options analysis, a cost-benefit analysis, and a risk assessment, CKG delivered a holistic business case to support our client's opportunity.

Entry Strategy

Leveraging our market analysis and projected opportunity, we partnered with our client to identify the brand's target audience and develop the customer journey. In turn, these exercises yielded to the development of a short and long term distribution strategy that optimizes customer acquisition costs (marketing and sales).

The Impact:

Through a comprehensive competitive landscape analysis, we provided our client with visibility into existing industry players, price points, and consumption patterns. Our product analysis exercise served as a complement by providing a view of existing product composition, quality metrics, supply chain, and profit margins. This information has been imperative in helping our client identify their competitive advantage and develop their value proposition.

By narrowing down the target audience, we created a path forward the shifted our client's strategy focus from bulk sales generation to value creation for their intended consumers based on key characteristics such as lifestyle needs, behaviors, interests, and demographics.

Ultimately, CKG created value by providing our client with a firm understanding of the North American market and entry opportunity while narrowing down their target audience, sales focus, and optimizing their short-term investment strategy.