Client description: Manufacturer of industrial sewing machines

Practice area: Market Research

Geographic scope: US, Korea

Industries involved: Industrial equipment

Services applied: Industry Analysis

Business challenge: Foreign industrial sewing machine manufacturer wanted to enter the US market and needed an industry analysis of the total US industrial embroidery and industrial sewing market. This included market size, market share, market projections and the number of customers purchasing and/or importing industrial embroidery and industrial sewing machines

Methodologies: Extensive secondary research using both publically available and proprietary databases, as well as 49 qualitative face to face and telephone in depth interviews with thought leaders, customers, distributors and competitors.

The result: Delivery of a report with a comprehensive assessment of the embroidery services, embroidery machines and industrial sewing machines market in the US. Each service/product category had a detailed characterization by market size, market share by brand, positive/negative growth trends, revenue trends, market segmentation by product and service, geographic concentration of importers, import/export historical data and projections. Also examined were client perceptions on the quality, value, loyalty and competitiveness of the different brands.

Findings revealed the embroidery market was not a growing industry. However, there were high expectations of industry growth. Import and export data for embroidery machines showed that approximately half of the value of new machines imported to the US was re-exported. Identified as key factors for buyers in purchase decisions were quality, price/affordability, brand, technical assistance, parts availability, technology and credit availability.