Succes Story
How to Use Market Intelligence and
Competitive Intelligence to Gain an Advantage
In a world where knowledge is power, the more you understand about
your markets, clients, prospects and competitors, the better.
A success story with LR Health & Beauty Systems.
Business Information Solutions
Market intelligence and competitive intelligence can give you and your company a
superior business advantage as German cosmetics direct marketing company LR Health
& Beauty Systems GmbH discovered. By successfully engaging in market intelligence,
the company was able to develop a cleverly designed strategy for its entry into the
Russian market. Additionally, competitive intelligence gave LR Health & Beauty Systems
the opportunity to identify a risk that would otherwise have threatened its whole
existence. In both cases, solutions from LexisNexis® served as a major source of vital
information on its market and competition. With more than 36 000 individual sources
including top-quality and reliable full text passages from national and international
newspapers; trade and special interest publications; company and market data; reports
and analytics; legal cases and further reference material; information from LexisNexis
enables businesses like LR Health & Beauty Systems to compete intelligently.
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that ‘knowledge is power’. His words are even more relevant today
How to use market intelligence to drive
business growth.
in an era where digital information has introduced extremely tough
Over the past two decades, the internet has fundamentally trans-
competition conditions, especially in global markets. The emerging
formed every industry. One of the defining characteristics of this
disciplines of Competitive Intelligence (CI) and Market Intelligence
era is that the internet provides universal access to all sorts of free
(MI) give companies the opportunity to tap into this information.
information. Business professionals have taken advantage of this
CI is the systematic collection and evaluation of information on
free information pipeline. However, there are limitations when trying
competitors; companies can base their strategic and tactical
to obtain business-critical information this way since the person
decisions on CI to gain advantages in the market and an edge on
searching for it is often not in a position, or has no time, to verify
their competition, or even to ward off existential threats. MI is the
the substance of the results. On the other hand, a research tool like
collection and use of all relevant information about markets, their
Nexis® from LexisNexis offers reliable information from top quality
players, their political and economic conditions as well as fluctua-
publications in a matter of seconds and, thanks to its alert function,
tions; MI is essential for developing and implementing a market
shows current changes immediately. The user-friendly interface
entry and expansion strategy.
makes it extremely easy to operate complex searches. Significant
Sixteenth-century English philosopher Francis Bacon once observed
developments in the market and among competitors can be investigated with just a few clicks. Not only is it possible to find potential
Examining the quality of databases:
is all information reliable?
business partners but also information about mergers or takeovers,
Almost every company monitors the market and the competition
the financial data. Nexis® even provides information about small-
using a variety of methods including CI or MI: collecting press
sized private companies which cannot be obtained any other way,
clippings; commissioning neutral market analyses; subscribing to
and makes it possible to conduct risk assessments for takeovers and
industry media and newsletters as well as engaging in social network-
to search for new business or distribution partners.
changes in the management structure of relevant companies or in
ing. However, most companies do not approach the collection of
their information systematically. The knowledge they have may be
Thanks to a broad spectrum of information which has been com-
incomplete or even incorrect with information gathered from
piled from publications, news, web news, companies, industries,
unreliable sources. The quality and scope of data is extremely
market analyses and public records, users from all industries and
important for accurate accumulation of information and knowledge.
in different countries can access a unique collection of content,
The value of any market and competition monitoring depends on
providing them with valuable information to support strategic and
what data is captured, processed, recorded and made available
operative decision-making.
as the basis for further decision making. It can be very resourceintensive for companies to evaluate diverse information sources
the right market and competitor information relies on an information
How LR Health & Beauty Systems used
competitive intelligence to cope with an
extremely critical competition situation.
provider with first-class international reference sources. Across the
Lars Larsen, corporate strategist and “Team Leader International
globe, LexisNexis provides customers with an exclusive combination
Operations” at LR Health & Beauty Systems GmbH, understands
of news, company, financial, legal, regulatory and market research
firsthand the value of reliable competitive intelligence: „For us,
data including:
Nexis® is a major instrument for obtaining information in everyday
selectively, keeping track of the markets as well as the competition
while staying up-to-date with the latest changes. Having access to
life“, the experienced database user says. Thanks to the LexisNexis
• direct access to more than 36 000 licensed sources,
research solution, his company successfully coped with an extreme-
• information on over 200 million global companies,
ly critical competition situation.
• 7,000+ business and trade publications,
• 12,500+ international and emerging market news sources,
• SmartIndexing to quickly and efficiently find the information
you need,
• personal customer support.
Success Story: Market Intelligence – Competitive Intelligence
Background: After having sold his shareholding, a former co-owner
of the company set up a company at the same location as LR Health
& Beauty Systems competing in the same market segment and trying to run his business using the distribution structure, similar products and some personnel from LR Health & Beauty Systems. The risk
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Premium sources for premium analyses
International newspapers
Trade and special interest
publications
More than 7.000 publications,
including:
Auto Bild, CHE Manager, Die Bank,
Economist Intelligence, Euro,
Forbes, Investment & Pensions
Europe, Logistik Heute, Marketing
Week, Schweizer Bank,
The Economist, Unit (EIU) Reports
23.000 international publications,
including:
Business Day (South Africa), Daily
Telegraph, El Pais, Irish Independent,
La Stampa, Le Figaro, Le Monde,
Los Angeles Times, New York Times,
RIA Novosti, South China Morning Post,
The Guardian, The Independent,
The Straits Times (Singapore),
The Times of India, Washington Post
German-language
newspapers and
magazines
More than 300 sources,
including:
Berliner Zeitung, Der Neue
Kämmerer, Der Spiegel,
Der Standard, Die Presse, Die Welt,
Focus, Hamburger Abendblatt,
Kölner Stadtanzeiger, Manager
Magazin, Mitteldeutsche Zeitung,
Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Stuttgarter
Zeitung, Süddeutsche Zeitung,
Tagesspiegel, Südwestpresse,
Wirtschaftswoche
Easy access to the facts
and information you need
Global Newswires,
Websites & Blogs
Associated Press Financial Wire,
Agence France Presse, AWP,
Business Wire, Central Asia
General Newswire, Cihan News
Agency (CNA), Digital Media Asia,
dpa-AFX, News Aktuell Schweiz,
PR Newswire, SeeNews plus
hundreds of web sources and
thousands of influential blogs
Company, market and
country data
People and biographical data
Biographies of Members of the
European Parliament, Blacklists,
Content 5, Debretts’ People of Today,
Gale Biographies, ICC Directors, ICC
Disqualified Directors, Info4C, Marquis
Who‘s Who Biographies, New York
Times Biographies, Politically Exposed
Persons (PEP), Sanktionslisten, UK
Disqualified Directors, Who‘s Who in
European Business and Industry and
many more
BBC Monitoring, Bundesanzeiger,
Bürgel, Creditreform, Director of
Corporate Affiliations, Dun &
Bradstreet, EUI, gtai, Hoovers,
Hoppenstedt,ICC Information
Group, Jigsaw Company Profiles
Directory, MarketLine, Mergerstat
M&A Database, SKRIN Company
Profiles, The Major Companies
Database, The PRS Group and
many more
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was high – experienced employees could potentially be enticed
former competitor in the database of LexisNexis and directly gets
away meaning that expert knowledge as well as product
the entry in the Bundesanzeiger informing the reader that „insol­
development could be lost. „LR Health & Beauty Systems was
vency proceedings have been instituted today, on November 27,
exposed to a very critical competitive situation“, says Larsen,
2012, at 13:18 PM, on the grounds of illiquidity and over-indebtedness“.
„and we immediately started monitoring the competing company
Forewarned – forearmed.
intensively via Nexis®.“
such as entries in the Trade Register, company research, persons
Using Market Intelligence at LR Health & Beauty
Systems GmbH to prepare for market entry
into Russia.
involved in the competitor’s company as well as subsidiaries.
Experts in the distribution sector shake their heads unbelievingly if
Corporate and press releases as well as publications in the press
someone tells them that LR Health & Beauty Systems prepared its
were assessed in order to find out what the papers abroad and at
entry into the Russian market from a desk in Ahlen, the company’s
home wrote about it. The researchers used Nexis® to collect and
headquarters in Westphalia. LR Health & Beauty Systems success-
compile all the facts regarding the company concerned from
fully accomplished this step having once again relied on research
sources such as the Bundesanzeiger (“Federal Gazette”), Credit­
solutions from LexisNexis. „In order to find out whether our direct
reform as well as Dun & Bradstreet. „We thoroughly investigated
marketing system will be culturally acceptable in that country, we
all aspects of this company and all of its activities“, says Larsen.
had to make some pre-studies and take a closer look at the overall
Each company division of LR Health & Beauty Systems was granted
logistic strategies for Germany and Russia“, notes Larsen.
access to Nexis ; the Research & Development department (R&D)
Contributions about the bookseller Bertelsmann provided valu-
immediately focused its investigation on specific newsletters and
able information about the mail-order business in Russia. The
Corporate Communications investigated that company’s corpo-
experience of the mail-order company Otto, which successfully
rate presentations and marketing activities. „Each department had
introduced parcel shops in Russia, was also helpful. A piece of news
set up news alerts for itself“, says Larsen, „to enable us to get a full
in the daily „Hamburger Abendblatt“ read: „The number of parcel
picture of all their activities. “Ad-hoc investigations were additionally
shops in Russia, from where customers can pick up the goods they
conducted at the same time, e.g. when an injunction was served, in
ordered via the Internet, is expected to rise from 300 to 1 500 by
order to find out whether other companies were also affected.
2014. This kind of shopping gets more and more popular in that
Nexis® allowed Larsen and his team to conduct a selective search
which focused on their own industry as well as wider relevant areas,
®
country.“ Larsen comments that: „From this and similar information
Thanks to these measures, Larsen and his team were fully informed
we were able to derive conclusions about the acceptance of the
about all activities and able to respond in a tactical way. For exam-
direct marketing business and the accessibility of the end users in
ple, adjustments to the marketing strategy regarding incentives for
the relevant regions.“
distribution partners: „We saw that our strategy was copied. In order
to motivate our staff and to retain our distribution partners, we knew
The Nexis® ‘country’ search provided results from Germany Trade
how we had to make it even more attractive.“
& Invest (gtai), such as market studies about export topics,
information sheets and further information on trade barriers. „These
The investigation efforts also proved to be helpful in legal matters:
sources as well as the large number of domestic and foreign publica-
„using archived newspaper sources we were able to reconstruct that
tions are important initial information in order to give us an idea of
we had marketed a certain product earlier“, says Larsen who was
what to expect“, says Larsen. „In addition to that, we have made
able to use this information as evidence in a patent dispute since
use of macroeconomic data, such as the income development,
the press reports were of an earlier date than the competitor’s foun-
data and facts about the employment situation, the development
dation date. „Nexis® has provided the basis for important strategic,
of the population as a whole, minimum wages, the share of temps
tactical and legal decisions and thus made a major contribution to
in the total number of people employed and cyclical movements in
our efforts to ward off this threat“, Larsen says.
the economy, as a means of strategic market monitoring.“ If, as an
example, the number of temps rises, as is currently the case in Spain,
The story took a happy turn for LR Health & Beauty Systems. When
Larsen can conclude from this trend that people are more inclined
the manager wants to inform himself nowadays about the current
to look for a second financial leg to stand on, so that direct marketing
situation of that particular company, he looks for the name of his
companies will have a better chance in the market.
Success Story: Market Intelligence – Competitive Intelligence
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Further investigations have taken Larsen to country-specific
production and import conditions, such as the requirements
concerning product approvals and technical standards that the
GOST certificate – the Russian equivalent to the European CE
declaration of conformity – imposes on companies. He also found
the right partner firm for penetrating the Russian market: „We
gathered clues as to who does what, and searched for a long time
until we came across suitable companies from Germany that could
potentially be our partners in this respect.“
Searches on German language news in Nexis® will be a true indicator
of how successfully the company has conquered the Russian
market. In the meantime, on entering the key words „LR Health“
and „Russia“, the following PR Newswire announcement is currently
displayed among other results:
„The sales revenue of LR Health & Beauty Systems
has increased by more than 5 per cent during the
first half year; the progress in the internationalization
of the business manifests itself by the fact that 52
per cent of the sales revenue has been generated
abroad. The monthly growth rate in the Russian
market alone amounts to more than 15 per cent.“
From his desk in the Westphalian city of Ahlen, Larsen looks confidently at search results of this kind: „We have organized most of
the preparations for the market launch via Nexis®. In everyday life
we use this tool as a kind of shopping mall, i.e. a building in which
all information is available“. The fact that his company has its headquarters „in the sticks“ does not prevent Larsen from acting
successfully at international level: „Since we do not have the
infrastructure of a big city in Ahlen, we simply bring the world to
our doorstep with the help of Nexis®.“
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Personal tips from Lars Larsen when
working with Nexis®
„Reliable sources and verified information is vital when making
and be generous when granting access authorizations.
decisions on business-critical matters. International markets are
We have noticed that, alongside permanently employed staff,
always good for idiosyncrasies. Good information is therefore
students in their diploma phase can also use this tool with
the key to success. There is no right of information in Russia, but
outstanding results. Since we integrated the tool into our day-to-
if a journalist writes for good sources and you can gain access to
day research, the amount of information gained at LR Health &
their articles via Nexis®, you have already won a lot.
Beauty Systems is continuously high. We continue to use
LexisNexis solutions as a major method for gaining information.
Although a database like Nexis® can be easily handled, in view
of its size and capacity you should still dedicate some time to
A final reason for advocating LexisNexis is that consultation
learning the tool and to advocating it internally. The more knowl-
does not stop after the contract has been signed. Quite the
edge you and your staff have about this tool, the more valuable
contrary; the company supports us regularly by providing
your search results will become. You will see fairly soon that you
training and Webinars, thus increasing the satisfaction of our
can spark a real firework of excitement among your staff. Do not
teams, especially if they have sometimes failed to find every-
impose Nexis on your staff, but convince them of the benefits
thing at the first attempt.“
®
“LexisNexis brings the world to
your doorstep”
LR Health & Beauty Systems GmbH
LR Health & Beauty Systems is for many customers and business partners, both in Germany and in
Europe, a synonym for top-quality cosmetic and body care products as well as dietary supplements,
such as Aloe Vera Drinking Gels. LR perfumes with creations from celebrities such as Bruce Willis,
Heidi Klum and Michael Schumacher, have made the fragrances of LR from Ahlen well-known all
over Europe. Founded in 1985, LR has developed into an internationally acting company in the direct
marketing sector. The strategy and the success of the growth are based on the recommendation of
excellent products. Hundreds and thousands of customers and business partners of LR Health &
Beauty Systems are convinced of our quality and can therefore make first-class recommendations
to friends and acquaintances. LR has one of the largest sales volumes in the industry at European
level, not least, because it recognizes the trends of the time and develops product lines for which
there is a high demand.
Success Story: Market Intelligence – Competitive Intelligence
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