What if a Turkish SME Tries to Enter a New Foreign Market With a New Product Line?

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Semi-structural, hands-on, dirty.

The story of a partnership... 

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An SME from Turkey, operating in production and treatment of forestry products contacts with Project Arts Business Studio, within the scope of their plans to produce and export furniture to Russia, a test of which, they have successfully performed through their first batch of sales to German market. 

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Accordingly, Project Arts Business Studio advises on conventional and unconventional methods to make the very first sales in the Russian market. Semi-structurally, talks with some potential buyers to collect feedback and create a sales opportunity, albeit small, if possible. Establishes contacts with some mediators, middleman such as independent contractors making renovatons in flats in Moscow, doormen who permanently work in considerable number of apartment buildings in Moscow. Offers commissions, discusses possibilities about sales, collects their real feedbacks.

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In the meantime, Project Arts Business Studio works on the business model to add more value to the products that are being focused on. It adopts a thematical logic and creates alternative themes such as music and literature as well as others for the furnitures to be produced to have some characteristic properties from the customer’s favourite artist or his/her artworks. Discusses promotional strategies regarding the alternatives. That is, it plays around each item of the marketing mix, which, although having variations, classically defined as 4P (product, price, place, promotion). However, it does this in a less structured and more flexible way compared to marketing communication agencies and other similar organizations.

 

Upon reaching a mutual understanding with the client, the SME in Turkey, Project Arts Business Studio assists in collection of necessary information for the grant writing process, which is aimed at receiving grants that are made available by Turkish Ministry of Economy to the exporters entering to and operating in foreign markets. Here, the focus is more on completing more practical yet critical tasks such as; finding alternative places to open a permanent shop or planning for pop-up points of sale if the business model requires those, incorportating results of field work, acting like a temporary and part-time representative office for the client. Then, parties decide to form a permanent business partnership for the business in concern.

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