Zebra Technologies
Increase in Business in West Africa with Long-Term Marketing & Sales Plan For Growth
About Zebra Technologies
Zebra (NASDAQ: ZBRA) builds tracking technology and solutions that generate actionable information and insight, giving companies unprecedented visibility into their businesses by giving physical things a digital voice.
Zebra’s extensive portfolio of solutions includes thermal barcode label and receipt printers, and RFID smart label solutions. These products allow business leaders to use data to make more informed decisions, ultimately, helping businesses understand how they work, and how they could work better.
Zebra has offices in 26 countries, channel partners in more than 100 countries and more than 7,000 employees worldwide. Zebra-brand printers are used by more than 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies.
Executive Summary
- Industry: Information Technology & Computer Hardware
- Zebra’s Business Goals: Engaged kpakpakpa to assist with “on-ground” market insights to prioritize market segments and build an active marketing plan for its local sales team and channel partners in Nigeria.
- Results: Zebra received the insights and strategic advice to boost its confidence in building the right strategy and sales channels to reach customers in a prioritized market segment in Nigeria.
Challenge
Zebra Technologies wanted to expand the presence of its solutions in the Nigerian market, which was a priority for the organization as it extended its footprint across Africa.
Although Zebra Technologies was already working with some selected partners in the Nigerian market that distributed its products, the Zebra Technologies’ Africa division was unsatisfied with the unpredictable and cyclical sales results of some of their resellers, who took a “passive marketing” approach and supplied to only customers that requested Zebra’s product.
Zebra wanted to develop a more active and directed marketing approach in Nigeria. To do this they needed to understand the solution segment out of its four categories – retail, manufacturing, logistics & healthcare – that it needed to prioritize to guide its local team’s sales and marketing effort in Nigeria.
Solution
KPA provided a detailed market intelligence report, benchmarking each of the four target markets to determine the segment that Zebra Technologies needed to prioritize, and providing the most efficient way to build its local sales channels.
The market study report gathered through a combination of quantitative data and qualitative insights from local resellers, industry experts, IT firms, and end-users provided Zebra Technologies with:
- An understanding of the current inventory tracking solution base in the four industry segments in Nigeria.
- A macroeconomic analysis to determine both short and long-term opportunities in each industry segment.
- A comparative segment analysis, prioritizing one segment for Zebra to focus its sales effort on.
- An understanding of the local needs and evaluation of possible unique value propositions for end-users within the prioritized segment.
- An understanding of the key decision-makers in the prioritized segment and their decision-making process.
- Development and evaluation of possible unique value proposition to attract prospective end-users in the prioritized market.
- A list of the top 15 customers in the prioritized market to focus Zebra’s Business-to-Business (B2B) sales effort on.
- A shortlist of resellers and vendors that Zebra could build a commercial relationship with.
During the engagement, KPA’s dedicated engagement manager provided strategic advice through a bi-weekly phone meeting with Zebra’s representatives.
The engagement was thorough and responsive to updated needs during the project which included assisting Zebra Technologies’ team with the hiring of a local country channel manager.
Outcome – Confirmed Zebra’s thinking about the best way to build a long-term business in Nigeria, with an immediate boost in sales for the West African region.
- Market Segment Prioritization & Robust Strategy
Zebra Technologies’ team received the quality market insights it needed to boost its confidence about the segment of the market and the solutions to prioritize for its dedicated sales effort in Nigeria. Through a detailed market study report and strategic business advice from KPA’s professional team, Zebra Technologies’s team built a robust market expansion strategy with a realistic understanding of the local landscape for its solution.
- Customer Identification & Channel Management Assistance
Zebra Technologies understood the top 15 customers in its prioritized segment that it needed to target. This list included the most lucrative companies that met Zebra’s customer identification and vetting criteria – forward-thinking enterprises with immediate product needs that have both short- and long-term growth opportunities. Zebra’s team also received a comprehensive list of hardware resellers and partners, including independent software vendors, helping its channel management team build a robust sales channel in Nigeria.
Hear it from the people who are delightfully building their business in Africa
