Client description: Wiper and PPE manufacturer

Practice area: Market Research and Analysis

Geographic scope: Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Costa Rica

Industries involved: Automotive, Mining, Food Processing, Metals

Services applied: Market Opportunity Study, Voice of Customer, Industry Analysis, Multi-country study

Business challenge: The client’s Latin America Operation (LAO) does business in a diverse region, with different cultural and business practices in each sub-region. Moreover, each sub-region has a different industry focus. The client has foreseen an opportunity to grow the business by focusing on MRO (Maintenance, Repair Operations) in specific areas/tasks. Part of their strategy is to have businesses become a valued partner through a new “Exceptional Workplace” platform. To bring such partnership opportunities to life, client needs market intelligence to understand decision makers, decision-making units, choice drivers, daily maintenance worker behaviors & tasks, unmet needs and pain points across all vertical segments.

Methodologies: Multi-phase approach combining extensive secondary research, face-to-face and telephone In-depth interviews (IDIs) with choosers to understand the decision process, PPE requirements, main competitors and unmet needs. An ethnography study supplemented research allowing observation of staff in their working environment.

The result: A clear understanding of individual sub-region industry challenges, decision maker and influencer profiles, decision drivers, new vendor triggers and unmet needs. Our report included analytics on what customers want and value drivers. An ethnography study, provided insights on task and risk mapping, PPE use per activity, PPE training, process contamination and compliance challenges.

Data assessments indicated that focusing on MRO should be avoided, as findings do not support MRO as key decision-makers for PPE. In contrast, a recommendation was made to focus on the Exceptional Workplace platform as the right approach; it addressed the needs of the customer in areas of production efficiency, workers safety, process contamination and environmental impact. Addressing these needs had a direct influence in the decision to purchase PPE products.