Successfully Flowing Into New Market Segments
Novasina shows that by working with the right business partner, an established market leader in one segment can excel by expanding into another business segment.
Novasina is a Swiss company with global presence and manufacturer of premium measuring instruments for climatic parameters in industrial processes and water activity in solids and liquids.
Since its establishment in 1958, the company’s expertise in unique sensor technology and measurement instruments have helped customers better manage relative air humidity, temperature and differential pressure in their regulated climates.
Challenge
Though Novasina’s product has been widely accepted in the meat processing segment, in Japan it had not made much headway in other business segments. Novasina needed to identify opportunities in other industries to grow its business presence in Japan.
Approach
Japan, like the rest of the world, has been stepping up on activities and tightening regulations to address food safety concerns for its population. DKSH, the exclusive distributor of Novasina in Japan, felt that Novasina can use its expertise and technologies to address this growing concern and grow its business.
DKSH embarked an integrated marketing campaign targeting local general food manufacturers on the importance of Japan’s Food Sanitation Act as well as the effectiveness of active water measurement which has been widely utilized over the years in the meat processing segment.
DKSH then invited key opinion leaders involved in food manufacturing quality assurance to gain customer insights and identified several unique selling points of Novasina targeting the general food category, including lower operational cost, ease of maintenance and testing accuracy.
Result
Due to increased awareness of the law and water activity approach in the general food manufacturing sector as well as the precise product selling points, Novasina recorded a three-fold increase in the number of units sold for its water activity measuring instruments in Japan as compared to before embarking on the awareness building program.
It also succeeded in expanding its portfolio of market segments from mainly meat processing into the general food manufacturing industry. It became the leading active water measuring instrument brand and went on to dominate market share before competitors entered Japan.
We have been working with DKSH for a long time and have established a great business cooperation. The direct market feedback from DKSH together with our expertise in water activity measurement made this successful market penetration possible. They support their sales staff to grow new market segments by providing continuous training, up-to-date knowledge and helped set-up a capable skilled service team to handle all customer requests in a professional and timely manner.
– Markus Bernasconi, Marketing & Sales Director, Novasina AG
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