Inspired by the overwhelming interests from United States architects and contracts for Jonite's Stone Reinforced Grating products, Jonite Singapore started their representative office in the US in August 2014 to better serve this market.
Singapore - January 29, 2016 /MarketersMedia/ —
Inspired by the overwhelming interests from United States architects and contracts for Jonite's Stone Reinforced Grating products, Jonite Singapore started their representative office in the US in August 2014 to better serve this market. Jonite is looking to penetrate the US market with the Jonite's range of products that includes channel grates, creative grates, floor traps, pool grates, street furniture, sump covers, toilet grates, tree grates and USA decorative grates.
Among Jonite's wide range of grate products, they expect their pool products like the overflow pool grates and Mini Grates for the surrounding pool patio to be well received in the US market. The current competition are usually made of plastic which are much less durable and not aesthetically pleasing.
To enter the US market, Jonite has devised both short and long term plans. In the short term, Jonite's strategy is to appoint sales repressentatives of the right fit for the various states and cities covering different parts of the US in the shortest time. Jonite looks for representatives with relevant experience, relevant line of products and proven track record of completed projects.
Over the middle to long term horizon, Jonite seeks to expose their brand and quality grating products (like channel drain covers, swimming pool grates and tree grates) to as many specifiers (architects, landscape architects, developers & contractors) as possible. Jonite will take a holistic and organic approach to diverting resources to the right channels over time.
The end goal for Jonite is to establish itself as a highly recognised and trusted brand in the architecture industry.
Initial challenges to enter the US markets were to find the correct sales representatives and there were times where distributors were appointed and progress became counter-productive. Adjustments and changes were slowly implemented to slowly train and appoint the right distributors. Other challenges also include educating architects and contractors to use Jonite's Stone Reinforced Grating products (which are environmentally friendly) over some traditional material such as cast iron. For example, cast iron tree grates have been specified in USA for decades and is seen as a heritage material for some applications. Cast iron however, have certain disadvantages compared to Jonite like colors, heat absorption, susceptibility to theft & rust etc.
While the success of penetrating the US market hinges on the product sales eventually, Jonite tends not to set sales targets in absolute annual figures but rather set a target for the number of projects closed or even a number for enquiries received each week to a month. While this may seem odd, it really makes perfect sense because during the early stages of penetrating a market, especially one of a market the size of USA, having the Jonite brand known to the specifiers of the industry takes precedence before anything else. Once Jonite has a foothold of the market and sees a pattern of regular specification of our products in projects, it would then be more effective to make realistic sales targets.
Other foreseeable challenges might be the lead delivery time. Since Jonite products are mostly made-to-order and have to be shipped from Singapore, this ends up requiring a much longer lead time than products manufactured locally in USA.
Guiding values and principles in expanding overseas
Jonite’s primary principles when entering a new market is always to establish a basic framework for business rather than focusing on sales alone. Different countries have different cultures and ways of conducting business and they have to adapt and respect that. Once this framework is established and ‘localised’, clients and vendors alike will be more comfortable to do business with Jonite. This is especially important when you are a new entrant to the market with a very new product.
Jonite's range of products available in the US includes channel grates, creative grates, floor traps, pool grates, street furniture, sump covers, toilet grates, tree grates and USA decorative grates.
1275 Glenlivet Drive Suite 100 Allentown, Pennsylvania 18106, USA
For more information about us, please visit http://www.jonite.us/
Contact Info:
Name: Jonite Stone Grates
Organization: Jonite Pte. Ltd.
Address: 1275 Glenlivet Drive, Suite 100,Allentown, Pennsylvania 18106
Phone: +65 6383 3788
Source: http://marketersmedia.com/jonite-stone-reinforced-grating-manufacturer-enters-us-market/102435
Release ID: 102435
