Case study · Market entry & strategy
Opening new markets from zero
Operations had containers ready to sell in a new Caribbean market. There were no customers, no pricing and no playbook for how the market worked. I built the research method that answered those questions, opened three markets with it, and turned the method into a repeatable playbook other teams now use.
Market entryPricingPartnerships
Company, partner and people names are left out, and pricing details are generalized to protect confidential information.
2x+
margin versus the same equipment sold in the U.S.
3 markets
opened across the Caribbean with the same playbook
5 steps
in a playbook now reused for every new market
5 markets
assessed with it across the Caribbean and Central America
01 · The problem
Stock ready to sell, and no way to sell it
A global container trading and leasing company had equipment arriving in a new island market. The supply side was solved. Everything else wasn't: who buys containers there, what they pay, how units physically reach a buyer, and who already sells there.
Pricing off U.S. numbers would leave money on the table or price us out. Guessing at buyers would waste the first shipments.
- Customers: none in the market, and no list of who might buy.
- Pricing: no local benchmark, only U.S. prices that didn't apply.
- Logistics: units sat at the port, where every move to a buyer added cost.
- Competition: unknown. Nobody had mapped who already served the market.
02 · What I built
A five-step playbook, not a one-off push
I could have chased a few buyers by phone. Instead, I built a method that answers the same five questions for any market, so the second market would be faster than the first.
01
Validate demand
Who buys containers here, for what, and is there enough volume to bother?
02
Map supply and landed cost
Which shipping lanes reach the market, and what a unit really costs once it's there.
03
Read the local field
Local resale prices, reseller margins, and who the competitors are.
04
Find partners
Depots, resellers and truckers who can store, move and sell units.
05
Package the handoff
A one-pager, a deeper brief and a contact tracker any teammate can pick up.
03 · The real design problem
The price was never the hard part. Access was.
In the first market, units sat on the port. Every time a buyer wanted one, we paid to move it off the port so they could reach it. Good prices meant little if repositioning costs ate the margin and customers waited on stock updates. The fix was structural: a depot partner where units land directly, close to buyers. That insight became step four of the playbook and the first thing I now check in any new market.
Sell where the boxes can actually reach the buyer. Everything else is a spreadsheet.
The lesson that shaped the playbook
04 · Who did what
My part, and the team's
Research and playbook
Me: built the method, did the field research on pricing, buyers and competitors, and led each market package.
Team: built with the regional pricing lead and the South America team.
Supply and pricing
Me: proposed pricing from local resale data.
Team: operations and the regional pricing lead set supply lanes and approved pricing.
Partners
Me: found and contacted depots, resellers and brokers, and pushed for depot terms.
Team: operations negotiated depot agreements.
Scaling it
Me: packaged the method so others could use it, and am training the regional team's new hire on it.
05 · Where it went
Three markets open, more in the pipeline
- First Caribbean market: opened from zero, now a repeat market at 2x+ U.S. margin; depot partnership in negotiation.
- Second and third markets: opened with the same playbook.
- Central America: run validation-first, checking volume and import costs before anything else.
- The playbook itself: handed to the regional sales team to train its new hire and plan its own expansion.
06 · What I'd do differently
Lessons I'm carrying forward
Secure the depot before the first sale.Selling off the port worked, but repositioning costs and slow stock updates cost margin and customer patience.
Validate demand before building the full package.My early packages went deep on every market. Now I check volume and import costs first, and only build deep where the numbers hold.
Get local partners talking sooner.The slowest part of every market was waiting on partners to reply. Starting outreach in week one, alongside research, saves weeks.
