Zebra Technologies
Increasing Business in North African Key Market
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 identify reliable channel partners in the Algerian market.
- Results: Zebra received the insights and market-entry strategies to quickly zoom in on capable partners to build out and expand a “country-centric” sales channels in Algeria.
Challenge
Zebra Technologies wanted to expand its presence in North Africa by expanding its sales channel in Algeria – the largest market in the Maghreb region.
Although Zebra Technologies was already working with selected partners in neighboring countries such as Morroco and Tunisia, they needed a more targeted and localized sales strategy in Algeria. Algeria has a challenging regulatory landscape, that changes frequently, with policies to protect local business – making it quite a challenge for multinational corporations.
Zebra wanted to understand the addressable market for its solutions as well as identify the best partners and the best points of entry for sustainable expansion into the market.
Solution
Through a two-month engagement with three local consultants in Algeria, KPA gathered insights on the enterprise mobility market and identified potential partners for Zebra’s expansion in the region.
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 overview of the total addressable market and appetite for enterprise mobility solutions in Algeria – with a focus on the following verticals: Manufacturing, transportation, healthcare & retail.
- An understanding of the channel ecosystem (top distributor and top enterprise mobility distributors) that have the appropriate distribution channels and decision-making power to ideally fit into its distribution model in Algeria.
- A curated shortlist of distributors, resellers, and vendors that Zebra could build a commercial relationship with – along with their strengths and partnership potential.
- An analysis to determine the local composition of competitors and substitutes to Zebra’s solutions.
- A comparative industry analysis, prioritizing the top industries for Zebra to focus its sales effort on.
- Insights into the ever-evolving regulatory landscape including the challenges and the best entry points in terms of legally getting through customs and efficiently getting products to the market.
- Recommendations on the strategies on how to successfully expand its presence in Algeria.
During the engagement, KPA’s dedicated engagement manager, along with consultants, provided market updates and strategic advice through a bi-weekly phone meeting with Zebra’s representatives. This came along with the effort to streamline communications across three languages – Arabic, French, and English – during the project.
Outcome – Local insights used to quickly build a strong strategy for succeeding in the Algerian Market
- Market Appetite & Competitive Landscape
Zebra Technologies’ team got local insights about the total addressable market for its solution. The insights allowed them to gauge the segments and industries that would utilize their solutions. It also allowed the team to get a realistic understanding of the competitive landscape with products that were rather unique to the Algerian market - Partnership Identification
Zebra’s team received a comprehensive list of the top local distributors to fit into its model that would allow them to properly navigate towards sustainable growth through a localized and focused distribution network. This curated list came along with expert advice, from local consultants, about the best growth and partnership opportunities for its expansion efforts in Algeria.
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