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First and foremost, you have to make sure whether you really want it or not.
If you are not certain about it you should refrain from "flirting” with Russian market in spite of other's strong recommendations or positive experience.
Attempts to come into Russian market without a thought-out strategy result into disappointment in Russia or in one’s own abilities. However, there are companies that have positive experience of working in Russia, which means the country isn’t to blame.
Moreover, apart from disappointed ambitions and financial losses, one can damage their company’s good name. People tend to remember well disappointment caused by unavailability of comprehensive product information or the product itself; and do not forget the name of a company or a person who did not meet their expectations.
Here are the typical examples of inconsistent behavour of international companies in Russia.
Situation #1. Disbelief in opportunities that Russian market gives and in possibility of successful sales along with a desire to operate in Russian market. In this case company’s sales infrastructure usually is underdeveloped and inconvenient for customers. As a result, a product is nominally present on the market; however its sales level is low.
Situation #2. Encounter with a “very energetic Russian” at an international trade show in Europe. This Russian is well-mannered, good-looking and speaks English fairly well. He is eager to become a company’s representative and promote it in Russia and the CIS. But be careful, check up on his reputation! If he has a bad record in Russian cleaning industry, which is a small place, this will have a negative effect on your company’s image.
Situation #3. Mailing of brochures, catalogues, and other print texts not translated into Russian in good times or sending unsolicited emails in the time of recession. Fruitless, unrespectable, … and ridiculous! Chances of success are like in a lottery. By the way, when did you win last?
Situation #4. A naive hope of a manufacturer, regardless of its own production capacity, to find a big and successful partner company in Russia. Practically, manufacturers look for those who will introduce and promote their product on the Russian market at their own expense. But this strategy has become obsolete. Big Russian companies have come up to the stage of development where they can set their own rules.
Situation #5. An international manufacturer already has a Russian representative who is not supposed to deal with direct sales. His responsibilities include brand promotion and wholesale sales to Russian trade companies, which in their turn work with end customers. For his activities to be successful, he requires ample budget for participation in trade shows, publicity, and various promotional events. For the lack of proper funding, which usually originates from disagreement between him and the manufacturer on the source of funds for these purposes and promotional strategy, he ends up as a retailer, competing with his client companies. In this case if you have competitors in the Russian market, the distributors may go over to them merely out of wish to teach your representative a lesson. And if there are no competitors, they are bound to appear. And then, farewell to sales…
The best strategy for any manufacturer is to establish a subsidiary or to find a partner company.
Subsidiaries are usually a choice of big global companies where cleaning is only one of their fields of operation. In view of insignificant share of this sector compared to others, budgets allocated for its promotion were modest even at the time of economic stability. During recession, promotion of this “insignificant” production is coming to naught (the bigger the brand is, the bigger budget cuts are); and new consumers unaware of “well-known” but passive brands start buying production of more active competitors.
As experience shows, the most viable way to establish a subsidiary in cleaning sector is for a manufacturer to acquire his successful partner company. But does every manufacturer have an opportunity to do this? Surely, successful companies cost a lot.
It’s obvious, that a reliable partner is the best guarantee of successful entrance to the market for the most manufacturers. However, if you want your Russian partner to be loyal, you have to be a reliable partner yourself. Formally, most manufacturers seem to realize that, but practically all they want is to make sales in Russia by any possible means. This substitution of notions hinders appearance of goods for cleaning that sometimes are in great demand.
Although the search for business partner admits of no fuss, this process needs to be limited in time. A drawn out process may damage a company’s image and it will stop being taken seriously.
Thus, how soon a company will come into Russian market, as well as any other, depends on a budget allocated for this purpose. However, when it comes to Russia, this fact is often overlooked, although Russia has stopped being a “cheap” country (bear in mind that employees of Russian companies you will be cooperating with sometimes earn more then your own personnel; salaries of 50 or 100 US dollars have long become history).
On the other hand, in a lot of companies which have a required budget amaze with unreasonable spending. When drawing up a budget one should think of how to get the best value for money in the first place and not of frugality.
What one really should not do is to search for a Russian representative through a third party. Because, first of all, a partnership starts with a face-to-face meeting. Secondly, you will be able to estimate how effectively the third party spent your finance not before it is actually spent. Fine, if it was effective, but what if not?
The most economically sound and safe way to establish contacts with representatives of Russian cleaning market is to participate in industrial trade shows. Arranging alternative promotional events if you do not have a business partner in Russia may be more expensive and give no results. A fair number of trade fairs for the cleaning industry only and for related sectors are held in Russia and CIS countries. The best opportunity for a manufacturer to demonstrate its products is to take part in PULIRE/ExpoClean (Moscow) and PULIRE/CleanExpo (St. Petersburg) shows. First of all, all major market participants get together at these exhibitions. Moreover, representatives of companies from Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Moldova, and Baltic states visit them as well. Although the economic slump has made companies cut travel expenses, this least of all influenced the above trade shows (the number of our magazine copies distributed at the latest PULIRE/ExpoClean edition prove this).
However, the highest return on investment in participation in an exhibition is only achievable if a participant is properly prepared for the show. Hopes for a good luck do not prove itself in most cases.
Making information about the manufacturer and its products widely available can help to make you brand recognizable in Russia. The best way to do this is to advertise (which may also include advertorials covering various subject, from company history and product description to possible ways of cooperation with prospective Russian partners) in industrial publication.
All advertising materials must be adapted to Russian audience, because ways of presenting information accepted in developed markets, do not work in developing market. Russian companies have come to conclusion that in order to market their production they have to provide training. That is why advertorials about how your products can help solve cleaning challenges is the most effective way of advertising, which gets consumers interested in your production and encourages them to buy it. Full-colour ads that fit with topics of feature articles also work well.
One shouldn't forget about availability of information about manufacturer itself and its goals in Russian market. The latter will enable to rule out enquiries from unsuitable candidates and save time. However, goals and requirements must adequate anyway.
We understand that it often is difficult for manufacturers to determine which types of their products are the most relevant for Russian consumers because they simply do not know the local market. Our many years' experience of cooperating with Russian and international advertisers as well as the assistance of independent experts enable us to select the most relevant for the developing industry production.
As it takes time to examine and comprehend information it should be published beforehand.
Other мagazines for the Russian cleaning industry
Sending of personal e-invitations for a trade show to your prospective representatives or partners, especially if you are going to arrange an event, will definitely be a good follow-up for advertising. In this case we can be helpful: our readership counts over 4,000 people.
It’s obvious that information must be presented in good Russian. Our qualified translators will help you to meet this challenge and will translate your catalogues, brochures and other texts intended for handing out at trade shows; and we might also print them in Russia if needed. |
