Bulgarian Furniture in Belgium
By selecting a Bulgarian product of your choice discuss the issues and implementations of exporting it in an EU country of your choice. (Areas to consider likely barriers of entry, product, price issues, etc.)
ABSTRACT
There are not so many Bulgarian products that might easily penetrate the EU Market even with a good marketing strategy. One of those, which I think might be successful is the Bulgarian furniture, as Bulgaria has traditions in this branch of the industry, and there are at least 10 factories which have been privatized and are already exporting their production to overseas markets like USA, Canada and the Middle East.
On the other hand, because of different factors, which I will briefly mention below, it is considered that if a product can be successfully launched in Belgium, it has a good chance of being successful in other EU countries.
For these two reasons I have chosen to present a brief overview of the Belgium market for office furniture as a potential market for Bulgarian firms willing to specialize in the production of office furniture for exports to the European Union.
COUNTRY OVERVIEW
Belgium is one of the smallest countries in the European Union (EU) but its small size does not reflect its relative importance in commercial or economic terms. With only 10 million inhabitants, Belgium accounts for some 3.2% of international trade, and it is the sixth largest importer in the EU. Situated between Germany and France, Belgium is located in one of the world's most industrialized and most competitive regions.
Belgium's imports of goods and services is approximately 74% and exports - 77% of its GDP, the highest figures in the EU apart from Luxembourg, w...
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...her price if the relation between quality and price is justified.
Belgium is a very open and easily accessible market. The import duties imposed on general metal or wooden office furniture are less than 3%, and the VAT is 21%.
BEST MARKET PROSPECTS AND RECOMMENDED MARKET APPROACH FOR BULGARIAN FIRMS
Since the outlook for the facility management and systems furniture markets offer the most promising growth potential, Bulgarian manufacturers should seek to concentrate on those specific markets. They should keep in mind that the services associated with these markets are of prime importance and that a local presence is crucial.
Bulgarian manufacturers wishing to penetrate the Belgian office furniture market should focus on the private sector and consider the linguistic and political factors in Belgium in order to determine where and how to enter the market.
Marketing analysis: Hafren Baum retails luxury home furniture which makes the demand for it being cyclical. Over the last two years from 1994 to 1995 the net sales for Hafren Baum have fallen by 21.05% and 1.24% respectively. There are number of factors which have caused this change. According to German economic statistics, we can see that the economy slowed down which forced retailers to reduce their prices to keep the old demand. Despite the fact that Hafren Baum constructed 3 more outlets in the expectation of higher sales volume their sales went down by almost 18% which seems to be the result of boom turning to bust in 1993. Later in 1995, the economy started recovering, but the sales for small retailers like Hafren kept declining. The
Ikea is a Swedish company that provides furnished products throughout the world. Ingvar Kamprad founded it in the year of 1943. Its furniture is self-assembled thus allowing the company to reduce its expenditures and offer customers low prices in return. When segmenting a market, IKEA usually focuses on age, income level, and lifestyle. It aims to attract young, underprivileged individuals who look to buy furniture for the first time. An example of this would be college students; they are often confused, doubtful, and looking for something cheap. IKEA currently operates in twenty-seven countries including Korea, China, Sweden, and Netherlands amongst many others (IKEA.com). Although it is
Zemanek, H. 2010. Competitiveness within the euro area: the problem that still needs to be solved.Economic Affairs, 30 (3), pp. 42--47.
- VAT & Duty rates vary across Europe- VAT ranges from 15% in Luxembourg to 22% in Finland , while UK duty levels are seven times higher than those in France .
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Companies are finding ways to improve its flexibility and competitiveness by changing its operation strategy, technologies that have implementation of Supply Chain Management (SCM) paradigm. For example, IKEA. It is the world’s largest home furnishing retailer having 298 stores in 37 countries with huge competitors around the world. However, it has a unique supply chain and inventory management techniques that makes it different and unique from others.
US companies looking to export products to Austria are able to employ the services of the Commercial Services of the United States Embassy in Vienna (CS Vienna) acquire the information necessary to begin its operations (“globaledge”, 2003). The following services would be offered to such compa...
The world is developing every day and we continue to discover new and innovative ways to better our quality of life. A trend that everyone seems to be focused on is saving the environment, which is also known as sustainable living. Not only does this apply to our lifestyle and environment, but it also translates into design. Sustainable living is becoming more popular around the world and is a lifestyle using skillful and sensitive design. It eliminates negative environmental impact and requires renewable resources. We each have decided to research different furniture companies to broaden our knowledge of the innovative practices used in each company. Throughout our paper we will introduce each of our companies and the products and practices they use to produce sustainable furniture. Our research will show that sustainable furniture design is beneficial to consumers by allowing them to live a more environmentally friendly lifestyle as their manufacturers develop innovative ways to make renewable furniture.
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Luxembourg is a country located in Western Europe, mainly composed of French and Germanic speaking and cultures. Luxembourg has an area of nearly 2,586 square kilometers making it one of the smallest sovereign states in Europe. In 2012 Luxembourg had a small population of 524,853 which is ranked 8th of least populous countries in Europe. Luxembourg ranked in size 179th out of 194 independent countries of the world. Luxembourg borders Belgium to the West, Germany to the East, and France to the South. The country being a representative democracy is headed by Grand Duke Henri. Luxembourg has a very developed and advanced economy, ranking to be with one of the world’s highest Gross Domestic Product per capita. Luxembourg is made up of a high income
Regardless of the success of your company on a national scale, to engage yourself in a successful venture outside of your borders requires several critical elements that one must acknowledge and apply with great care. One of those requirements would be to thoroughly research the cultural environment in which you wish to launch your product no matter how popular and indispensable you believe it might be. In the past, many national giants have hit the wall when introducing a foreign market or launching a new marketing campaign because of the cultural gap they encountered on the other side of their borders. Another way of preventing a flop on an international market is to carefully study the economical past of this country, which might differ quite a bit from the one the company flourished in. In addition to the previous precautions, it Would be advise to make sure that your product will blend seamlessly within the spending habits of the consumers. Overall, meticulous market studies and patience often constitute the way to success on a foreign soil.