The epicentre of the film industry is the US, but we weren't ready straight away to go there; we needed to prove ourselves first. So we crossed the ditch and went to Australia where we focused in the first stages on the customers that Vista had there - the likes of Hoyts, Event Cinemas and Village.
We very able to build about an 83 per cent market share in Australia and 76 per cent in New Zealand within 18 months. Having our customers really close to us meant we were able to offer a really high level of service and take any feedback from customers to adapt the product quickly.
After that stage we were ready to hit North America, but our approach was different in that Vista was a very small player in that market, so we didn't really have the leverage we had in Australia. Instead we found ourselves jointly approaching customers with Vista.
And later we partnered with NCR, Vista's biggest competitor up there, which enabled us to pretty much approach the majority of the US market. Cementing that relationship was about spending a lot of time in market, and we felt that NCR was also under a lot of pressure from their customers who were keen to work with Movio. We now have about a 27 percent market share in the US, 66 percent in Canada and 61 percent in Mexico.
Have your strategies varied greatly when going into different territories?
In my opinion all the countries that we've done business in, or tried to do business in, are relatively similar - even if the language is different - with the exception of China.
China is completely different in every way. It's one of those places where you have to invest quite a lot of money and particularly time in really understanding the differences in the way the market works before you can offer anything to that market.
So our approach in China is to have a person on the ground. He's a fantastic representative because he went to university here but he's also Chinese, so he understands both cultures. He's not only translating the language, he's translating the culture and what's going on.
What are some of the other challenges you've encountered on your journey into offshore markets?
Like most industries there's a clique and you've got to break into that clique to get anywhere. So one of the biggest challenges has just been trying to build relationships. Now that I've been to lots of trade shows and industry events you see there's always a new technology company arriving and trying to break into these circles, and while everybody is relatively receptive, they all think 'I don't know if you're going to be at the next show'.
So it's about being there all the time. Once they see you are there a lot and that you're consistent in your message, the trust starts to build over time. That's probably the biggest lesson I've learnt is you can't accelerate trust; you've got to earn it and it takes time.
Are there any other key lessons?
The first is from a product perspective. In New Zealand we're great inventors but I think we need to productise what we create so it can scale. If you can come up with a singular product that is adaptable enough for different markets but can be managed from one place, success and profitability will come a lot more easily.
Secondly, try not to pigeonhole yourself. The decisions we make today may affect the future of the business, in terms of technology limitations or potentially markets that are difficult to service.
Thirdly, of course, you need to get in market. I actually counted up my passport stamps the other day and in the last two years I've done 25 trips to the US. You cannot sell remotely, and that's not just about knowing whether the software is relevant, it's about understanding all the nuances of a market and what's happening there at the time. We really saw growth and success in the US when we opened an office up there and put people on the ground.
My last piece of advice is around price. I think New Zealand companies typically charge very little for their services relative to what an American company would, so I'd say spend time getting your price right because being the cheapest is not often sustainable or attractive.
Coming up in Your Business: What are some of the challenges of developing new products when you're running a small business? How have some business owners managed to do this - and fund it - while still keeping their day to day operations going? If you've got a story to tell drop me a note: nzhsmallbusiness@gmail.com
