Client description: Global glove manufacturer

Practice area: Market Research and Analysis

Geographic scope: US, Europe (Denmark, Sweden, France)

Industries involved: Personal protection equipment, power generation (oil, gas, and nuclear) and power distribution industries

Services applied: Industry baseline study, Voice of the Customer (unmet user needs)

Business challenge: Glove manufacturing company needed to understand the overall industry, competitive dynamics, purchasing behavior, unmet user needs, and how to best differentiate from competitor products.

Methodologies: Exhaustive qualitative research including 6 ethnographic site visits in Europe and the US; 5 focus groups in the US; and 50 in-depth-interviews with gatekeepers and thought leaders throughout the US and Europe. Geo Strategy consultants visited power generation facilities and followed linemen on their electrical repair and service calls.

The result: We developed detailed process maps showing glove usage, requirements and unmet needs in the power generation (coal, natural gas, nuclear and hydroelectric) and power distribution industries for the US and Europe. From the competitive intelligence gained from our research and our strategic recommendations, the client was able to formulate a go-to-market strategy that will meet the unmet needs in the market and provide a value position/differentiation from the competition. In particular, we identified a game-changing unmet product need.