McDougall Energy
Market research & brand entry planning
McDougall Energy is a large marketer and distributor of petroleum products, based in Ontario. A growth-focused company, McDougall has pursued regular acquisitions in recent years, expanding their service offering and overall footprint.
The goal of this project was to explore the reality of a business expansion into the Kingston region for each of McDougall Energy’s main business lines, and to subsequently strategize for market entry into the Kingston region.
Challenge
To establish the following:
- Would there be enough potential customers for expansion to be feasible, and who are they?
- How would target markets be best reached? What channels would be most effective in reaching potential new customers?
- Who would area competitors be, their offering(s), and their market share?
Approach
dig utilized a combined quantitative and qualitative research approach. Data collection methods included studying purchased third-party data (Environics), conducting competitive analysis through mystery shopping and in-market surveys, and researching public domain data (StatsCan, municipal publications, and search trend data).
Results
dig provided an initial and final report complete with a full strategy for entry into the market and a drive with all relevant data used to compile the report. Primary areas of focus included:
- Examination of the market for McDougall’s ‘Home heating’ division (demographics, population density, dwelling types).
- Economic analysis of the region (job categories, income, employment growth sectors).
- Evaluation of key industries for B2B products and services, including maps of high value areas and lists of key businesses to target for sales.
- In-depth analysis of the agricultural sector for B2B products and services (farm types, locations and land use details, farm income/expenses, farm capital details, operator demographics).
- Overview of regional infrastructure (i.e., natural gas coverage) and residential, commercial, and road fuel utility.
- Competitive analysis, highlighting current market share, gaps in services, and areas of over-saturation.
