Commerce Romania Delivered

Testing new markets before committing.

A research programme for a cross-border distribution venture, turning several unfamiliar product categories into clear decisions.

The situation

A distribution venture linked to manufacturing partners in Asia wanted to enter Romania, selling several consumer and industrial product categories to retailers and dealers. Before committing, it needed to know which ones could work, and on what terms.

The approach

The categories

Different products, the same question.

A personal-care electrical appliance

We mapped the price tiers in the Romanian market, the EU product-safety and waste rules, and the design-patent exposure that comes with products that look like established ones.

A wearable mobility device

We compared routes through consumers and through clinics, and looked at the patent risk from an established brand.

Electric bicycles under a manufacturer's own brand

We looked at how to enter through dealers only, and at the pricing that route would need to support.

A shared charging network

This was a business-model feasibility study rather than a market report. We set out how the model works from two positions, as hardware supplier and as network operator, with the options, competition, suppliers, economics and risks of each.

A highly regulated consumer category

We brought together EU law, national tax, manufacturer licensing and evidence from retail, to see which formats the market and the rules would actually allow.

How we made it useful

Research is only useful if someone can decide from it.

Every report ends in a verdict.

Go, conditional go or no-go, with the conditions written down. A decision-maker should not have to work out the answer from the analysis.

We work backwards from the shelf.

We start with the prices buyers actually see, then take out VAT, taxes and the margins of retailers and distributors. What remains is the highest landed cost the product can carry.

Three scenarios, with the assumptions in view.

Conservative, base and high demand are set out side by side, with the assumptions stated openly, so that anyone can question them.

We say what we cannot prove.

Licences, test reports, costs and design rights can only be confirmed by the manufacturer. Each report lists these open items, so they are not mistaken for established facts.

A finding

In one category, the rules and the timing had already closed one route to market.

The research identified the only viable format and recommended a staged plan that dealt with compliance first, with checkpoints before any capital was committed.

What was delivered

A full market-entry report for each category
An executive summary, methodology, glossary and source list
A verdict for each category, with its conditions
A list of what the manufacturing partners still had to confirm

Beyond the research

A service agreement covering scope, delivery, confidentiality and intellectual property
Advice on partnership terms: roles, funding and scope by category
A go-to-market plan combining a direct sales team with distributors
A sequence for launching products, based on their regulatory barriers

The service behind this work Market Entry

Client details are held in confidence, and this description is deliberately general.