Client
The Chief Digital Officer and three business divisions of a logistics automation company were exploring new growth opportunities resulting from the ongoing effort to digitalize China's logistics infrastructure.
Challenge
Growth of the traditional product portfolio has been slowing for a logistics automation company. In the medium to long term, they expect that the market for logistics equipment will grow in the low single digits. However, demand for software is expected to remain strong as companies seek to improve the efficiency of their assets. To realize this growth, the company needs to integrate new data-driven software and services with its large fleet of machines deployed at customer facilities across China.
Although the topline objective is clear, the implementation roadmap remains uncertain. The company needs to prioritize market segments, identify concrete business opportunities, determine the right offering required to win these opportunities, and collaborate with technology and business partners capable of filling local execution gaps so they can bring best-in-class solutions to market quickly and affordably.
Approach
Asia Growth Partners supported the CDO in both tracking demand trends across segments and in identifying specific opportunities. Demand trend mapping was approached by analyzing revenue growth, existing asset bases, investment trends, and change drivers in the target customer segments. This analysis provided insight into where sufficient demand exists to justify investment in new solution development. A complementary assessment of existing competitors and alternative solutions enabled a comparison between supply and demand in order to prioritize opportunity clusters.
After understanding market dynamics, Asia Growth Partners next supported our client in hosting site visits and ideation workshops with high potential customers. These activities highlighted specific customer pain points and objectives that could be addressed with software solutions. Engaging customers early in the solution development process helped to reduce the risk of focusing on solving the wrong problem. These customers also create an informal ‘customer advisory group’ to provide feedback into ongoing solution development.
- Map demand and investment trends in target customer segments.
- Evaluate the existing competitor landscape and benchmark alternative solutions.
- Prioritize opportunity clusters by comparing solution supply and demand.
- Host site visits and ideation workshops with high potential customers.
- Ideate specific solutions that can solve urgent customer pain points.
- Form an informal ‘customer advisory group’ to provide ongoing input during development.
