Market Research Helps Kite Manufacturer to Fly Higher

Summary

Benefits

• Even though existing research is scarce, the report delivered assessments of the lifestyle sports markets for the UK, as well as key foreign markets.
• The report offered recommendations for strategies for setting up international distribution, and suggested collaborations to promote the sport and the products.
• The report’s conclusions helped to convince the board of the need for change and alternative approaches to increase revenue. The style of the report was straight forward and easily digested.

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As part of its strategy for growth, Flexifoil is eager to explore ways to further grow the market. Flexifoil is keen to expand into overseas markets, as well as expanding its customer base to inland areas which have not yet fully embraced performance kiting, for example the Mid-West USA.

Roy Carter of Flexifoil said; "The report gave interesting insights that we hadn't considered on partnership opportunities with activity holidays. Its conclusions helped to convince the board of the need for change and alternative approaches to increase revenue. The style of the report was straight forward and easily digested. It was the ideal length to support arguments without being padded out with too many case studies.

Roy went on to say that, "We now have identified opportunities and some case studies and analysis to back up the decision process. We are working to robust analysis instead of gut instinct or guess work."

Catherine Logan, a masters graduate, was the researcher for the Flexifoil QuickMark report. "The kite sports industry is relatively new compared to traditional sports, and does not have an established governing structure from which it is possible to access research data. This made the project challenging. However, we were able to offer Flexifoil a number of options to consider for expansion into new markets."

QuickMark

QuickMark provides a fast initial market investigation to support business innovation. QuickMark is designed to identify broad market potential and pinpoint critical market issues for new product areas, processes or services. The possibilities include innovations in complex areas, new developments or new markets for an existing product, or new business streams for existing businesses. Using masters level researchers with access to a wide range of information, the process does not replace a full market research study, but is aimed to move businesses closer to making better decisions.

For further information on QuickMark contact John Bradford.

Telephone 0117 32 82542 or email: knowledgewest@uwe.ac.uk