If you ask people on the street what their idea of the object of study of marketing research is, many answers would point to a classic idea. The most everyday image of these shows consumers making retail purchases of products and services. However, there are many other segments within the market that also require the advice of our agencies. We are referring to the business-to-business or B2B niche.
Within the logistics and value-added chains are intermediaries whose size involves the movement of purchases and sales ranging from mid-wholesale to wholesale. This sector also includes the movement of products and services from one side of the world to the other. Therefore, aspects that are sometimes not observed in retail projects must be reviewed. Based on the above, today we list four concepts of business-to-business market research.
Tariffs. This concept has gained more attention in recent weeks due to the trade war initiated in North America. In very simple terms, it refers to the taxes charged by a country at customs on the import and/or export of products. These costs are very important when planning and executing business projects. In a globalized world these prices had been lowered through Free Trade Agreements, but nowadays this is in controversy.
Incoterms. When trading on a large scale and the movement of goods between countries is required, it is an essential requirement to clearly establish all the contractual terms between the two parties exchanging capital and products. The different types of these terms are known as Incoterms. Your knowledge ranges from knowing what each one implies to keeping abreast of the list that is adjusted from time to time.
Volumes. To define the size of the market of a certain category, the aim is to quantify the total or the part of interest. Each commodity has a unit of measurement that, as far as possible, is intended to be universal. This unit can be expressed from the piece or grouping of these through tons to liters. It should be clarified that there are many cases where some countries express their movements in units different from the majority and it is necessary to apply the appropriate conversions.
Values. Prices are an attribute that changes over time and is based on multiple circumstances. In this field there is greater standardization since in most transactions the U.S. dollar is used. Special care should be taken with the expression of this currency because sources can be consulted that express it either in constant prices based on a given year or in current prices.
There are more attributes that are analyzed in market studies of the category. In a future blog post we will address the issue of harmonized codes. However, we believe that the above topics summarize to a large extent what many customers are asking for when they are looking for answers to inform their decisions. In these months, this data and information takes on even more strategic value than before.
At Acertiva we have collaborated with brands that have required points such as those addressed today. Thanks to our two decades of experience in Market Research in Latin America, we can provide you with a team of analysts and strategic suppliers. If you have a study coming up, contact us. We’ll get back to you with how together we can make your next success story a reality.
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