Case stu­dy: busi­ness deve­lo­p­ment spe­cial win­dow manufacturer

Com­pa­ny:

Lea­ding Aus­tri­an win­dow and door manufacturer

Com­pa­ny Size:

280 peo­p­le

Natu­re of the con­sul­ting project:

Busi­ness Deve­lo­p­ment Bri­tish Isles and France

Indus­try / Product:

Tim­ber, tim­ber-alu­mi­num win­dows and doors

Tar­get markets:

Eng­land, Scot­land, Ire­land, France

Pro­ject:

The com­pa­ny is, behind Inter­norm and Josko, the lar­gest manu­fac­tu­rer of high-qua­li­ty win­dows and doors made of wood in Aus­tria. The con­s­truc­tion boom in the Bri­tish Isles after the turn of the mill­en­ni­um and the mar­ket ent­ry of Inter­norm in the­se mar­kets prompt­ed the manage­ment to see this area as a stra­te­gic export desti­na­ti­on. The goal was to break into this mar­ket of 60 mil­li­on and secu­re a fur­ther reve­nue stream bes­i­des Aus­tria and the South Tyrol.

First, mar­ket rese­arch was car­ri­ed out and and then poten­ti­al part­ners were cont­ac­ted in all tar­get mar­kets. Tho­se short­lis­ted were visi­ted and sel­ec­ted. At the end of this pha­se dis­tri­bu­tors for Eng­land , Scot­land and Ire­land had been set up, and joint mar­ke­ting and sales acti­vi­ties had been defi­ned and per­for­med e.g. trade shows and adver­ti­sing campaigns.

Chal­lenges (and their solutions):

In the UK , the­re were three main chal­lenges . On the one hand the pro­ducts. Approx. 1/3 of the mar­ket are sli­ding win­dows, 50 % out­side ope­ning, and only the rest are inward ope­ning win­dows (usual­ly tilt/turn). The com­pa­ny could initi­al­ly only address this last area. Second, the qua­li­ty awa­re­ness and thus the pri­ce level (exclu­ding Lon­don) is very mode­st. The third chall­enge arri­ved in 2009:, the finan­cial cri­sis with the slump in the housing mar­kets, which espe­ci­al­ly hit Ire­land in full force .

The solu­ti­on to the first chall­enge was to deve­lop a spe­cial UK win­dow. For the second the rising inte­rest in sus­taina­bi­li­ty and ener­gy effi­ci­en­cy has been very bene­fi­ci­al. This is reflec­ted in the suc­cess of the trade show Eco­build, dedi­ca­ted to sus­tainable con­s­truc­tion in the UK. And at least in the UK, espe­ci­al­ly Lon­don, the pri­va­te home mar­ket is back on track.

Cus­to­mer bene­fits / suc­cess of the consulting:

Inten­si­ve mar­ket infor­ma­ti­on, coope­ra­ti­on with part­ners in the deve­lo­p­ment of UK win­dow, first refe­rence instal­la­ti­ons. The com­pa­ny now has its own sales office in the UK.