This success story arises from the combination of the following services: Korea Trade Missions and Market Visit Assistance and Finding Business Partners in Korea
The Uludağ Automotive Industry Exporters' Association (OİB) selected KOISRA to set up meetings for twenty-two Turkish automotive exporters with Korean importers, distributors, and aftersales agents as part of a trade mission to South Korea and a B2B roundtable event in Seoul.
OBJECTIVE – SETTING UP MEETINGS WITH KOREAN BUYERS
The Turkish exporters consist of passenger car, truck, bus, tractor, off-road, and heavy vehicle parts manufacturers. The main objective of this project was to set up meetings with Korean buyers in various segments, including importers, distributors, and aftersales agents.
CHALLENGE – MARKET DOMINATED BY LOCAL KOREAN MANUFACTURERS
South Korea is home to global automotive brands such as Hyundai and Kia. The Korean automotive market is globally known for its competitiveness with strong local production. Generally, entering a market dominated by local players who are also global players is a very challenging task that requires the exporting brand to demonstrate not just price advantage but also quality. The automotive market is considered very conservative with many small and medium-sized family businesses that for many years exclusively worked with locally produced products. An additional challenge was administrative – less than 40 days remained to set up meetings for twenty-two Turkish companies.
APPROACH - MARKET RESEARCH AND PROSPECTS IDENTIFICATION
First Step: Meetings were conducted with each Turkish exporter to understand their company background, activities, the brand, and the products they wished to promote in Korea.
Second Step: An extensive study of the Korean market for each product was carried out, identifying potential Korean buyers that met the Turkish exporters' requirements. A comprehensive list with full details of these buyers was prepared and shared with the Turkish exporters. Based on the Turkish exporters' comments and feedback, second and third lists were made to add more Korean buyers.
Third Step: Upon review and confirmation by the Turkish automotive exporters, contact was made with the Korean buyers to introduce the Turkish exporter and its products, validate the Korean buyers' capabilities, and gauge their interest in importing and selling the Turkish products in the Korean market.
Fourth Step: Meetings were set up with Korean buyers who expressed interest. Each Turkish exporter received a list of confirmed meetings with Korean buyers, including contact points, before their arrival in Korea.
OUTCOME – OVER 70 MEETINGS WERE ARRANGED
Twenty-two Turkish automotive exporters joined the Turkish Automotive Trade Mission to South Korea.
Each Turkish exporter had an average of three meetings with Korean buyers, arranged by KOISRA. The meetings were held in a special B2B venue at COEX, Seoul. The Korean companies were professional automotive importers, distributors, and aftersales agents with extensive experience in the local automotive market and working with foreign automotive brands.
The KOISRA team was on-site to assist and support the management and execution of all the meetings.
In addition to the Korean buyers, KOISRA also invited the chairman of the Korean Automotive Parts Remanufacturers Association, who met with executives from the Uludağ Automotive Industry Exporters' Association.
The Turkish Commercial Attaché from the Turkish Embassy in Seoul visited the B2B event, acknowledging the success of the meetings and the delegation.
Following the Turkish companies' return to Turkey, KOISRA surveyed them regarding the overall quality of the services they received, and on a scale of 1 to 5, KOISRA received a 4.2. Most of the Turkish companies already had positive follow-up communications with some of the Korean buyers they met in South Korea.
