AGC Glass Europe is the European Branch of AGC, world leader in plate glass, and produces, processes, and distributes its product for construction and automotive industries, as well as solar energy and hightech.

AGC New Business aims to diversify and build high-end innovative products through its research and development department in Gosselies, Wallonia. A team of over 300 researchers currently focuses on developing a large scala of new products.

“Merluno helped AGC in defining the Marketing & Sales strategy to launch a new innovative product, like Clara Fenster” – Patrick Van Bortel, VP Industrial & New Businesses

What is the growth potential for Clara Fenster in the Benelux market?

Challenge

Our first collaboration concerned the testing of Clara Fenster on the Benelux market. It is a fully finished high end product with a focus on design, eliminating window frames, and energy efficiency through triple glazing. A proven success in its home market, Switzerland, AGC wanted to investigate whether this success could be replicated on new markets.

Approach

As Clara Fenster, a finished product, required a different go-to-market strategy from its more traditional flat glass volume business. Merluno was asked to investigate the growth potential in the Benelux B2B and B2C market and get feedback from the different stakeholders in the high-end consumer construction market.

Step 1: Market Research

• Trends

Merluno researched trends on a macro-economic level: towards demographics, socio-economics, the housing and glass markets, politics, energy and sustainability, as well as technology product innovation to spot significant differences between the Belgian, Dutch, and Luxembourg markets.

• Market Size

We calculated the total addressable market, serviceable available market, and serviceable obtainable market, with the detail based on parameters such as type of housing, new builds vs renovation, building permits, or window service per housing type.

Step 2: Targeting

• Segmentation

In a second step Merluno segmented the end consumer market based on hard facts such as income, income distribution, housing value, and education levels. We also looked into consumer behavior and identified the price seekers, balanced deciders, quality minded, and design sensitive segments.

• Targeting

Based on this segmentation we identified the target market and buyer persona profile. Subsequently, we looked at how AGC could identify and target these geographically.

• Stakeholders

Merluno conducted interviews with different stakeholders such as architects, resellers, and contractors on the Benelux market to test the value proposition of Clara Fenster. Based on their needs and willingness-to-pay, these stakeholders in turn were segmented to define the most relevant target groups within these stakeholder segments.

• Competition

Lastly, Merluno analyzed direct competition for Clara Fenster: what does their pricing and business model look like and what is the USP for Clara Fenster compared to these players.

Key findings and result

Merluno discovered that consumers have regained confidence in the economy, which has led to increased purchasing power and renewed appetite for building and renovation, as well as the desire for bigger window surfaces and thus smaller frames in an energy efficient manner. The study also shows a sizeable market with high interest in most notably Belgium. Different consumer and B2B markets have been identified wherever there is a match for the Clara Fenster proposition. AGC now has decided to enter the Belgian market to ensure people can now build their dream house!

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