DENKWISE ADVISORY
Build your brand’s future in Europe.
For established design-led home and lifestyle brands based outside Europe that are ready to consider their next international market.
European Expansion gives your management a clear recommendation on whether to enter Europe, and if so, where to start and how, before significant capital is committed.
DURATION
10 weeks
SCOPE
One product category family
INTERVIEWS
4 to 6 with your management
TERMS
Fixed scope and fee
WHO ADVISORY IS FOR
For established brands with international ambition
Advisory works with established design-led home and lifestyle brands based outside Europe. They design or develop their own products, have built customers and operating experience in their home markets, and typically have annual revenue of €5 million to €50 million.
Not the right fit: early-stage start-ups, and manufacturers that are just beginning to build a consumer brand.
Our focus is European market entry and growth, and product and collection strategy.
EUROPEAN EXPANSION COULD BE RELEVANT IF, FOR EXAMPLE, YOUR MANAGEMENT IS
01
considering a first European market and where to start;
02
evaluating an approach from a European distributor against other routes to market;
03
deciding which products could lead an entry into Europe.
EUROPEAN EXPANSION
A ten-week engagement with a fixed scope
We examine whether Europe should be your brand’s next market, and if so, where to start and how to enter.
Success in Europe depends on how your range, your price position, your route to market and your readiness to operate fit together for a specific European customer. We examine these together for one product category family.
WHAT WE EXAMINE
Your brand’s readiness for Europe
The commercial fundamentals of the business
How credible your brand and range are for European customers
SCOPE
One product category family
4 to 6 management interviews
Up to 3 European options screened, up to 2 tested
10 weeks
Pricing and route to market
Target customers and launch requirements
HOW THE WORK RUNS
Four stages over ten weeks
STAGE 1
Assess
We examine your brand’s readiness for Europe and its range in the chosen product category family.
STAGE 2
Screen
We screen up to three European options.
STAGE 3
Test
We test up to two of those options.
STAGE 4
Recommend
We present our recommendation and the European Expansion Strategy.
WHAT YOU RECEIVE
The European Expansion Strategy
A company-specific strategy for whether, where and how your brand should enter Europe. It brings the priority market, customer, positioning, lead products, pricing direction and route to market into one recommendation, with the reasoning and priorities for action.
THE DECISIONS IT PREPARES
01
WHERE TO START
Which European opportunity deserves priority, and why
We screen up to three European options and test up to two. The Strategy recommends one, explains why it ranks ahead of the others and records why the alternatives were set aside.
02
CUSTOMER AND POSITION
Which customer to pursue, and what position your brand can credibly hold
A clear description of the first European customer to serve, and the position your brand can defend for that customer given its range, its price level and the competition it will meet.
03
LEAD PRODUCTS AND PRICE
Which products could lead the entry
The products we propose leading with, the positioning of each and a pricing direction for the priority market. They follow from the decision above: together, the lead products and their pricing should make the chosen position credible to the priority customer, reflecting what the range offers and how it compares with the alternatives that customer considers. Where the range needs development before launch, the Strategy says where and why.
04
ROUTE TO MARKET
Which route fits, and how to choose partners
The route, or combination of routes, that suits the opportunity and what your organization can support, with the criteria for choosing the partners that route requires.
05
BASIS AND NEXT STEPS
What supports the recommendation, what remains uncertain and what should happen next
The Strategy separates conclusions the evidence supports from the assumptions the recommendation depends on and the questions that remain open. It names the requirements, constraints and tradeoffs involved, and sets out the next steps in order of priority.
Market and range, decided together
A European opportunity is only as credible as the products and prices that lead it. The Strategy therefore treats the market, the customer and the lead products as one connected recommendation, not as separate studies.
Within the scope of European Expansion
The Strategy sets strategic direction for one product category family. It does not forecast sales or assess the whole business. Deeper collection or proposition development is optional and agreed separately, through Launch Collection or Launch Proposition, or with your own team or specialists you appoint.
Three possible recommendations
Each recommendation gives your management a clear, reasoned position on the prioritized opportunity. The Strategy sets out what supports it and what follows from it.
Proceed
The evidence supports taking the prioritized opportunity forward now.
Prepare
The opportunity is credible, but specific requirements are not yet met.
Pause
A constraint stands in the way of a sound commitment now.
WHAT THE STRATEGY PROVIDES
The assumptions still to validate and the steps for preparing entry, in order of priority.
WHAT THE STRATEGY PROVIDES
Each requirement, why it matters, the tradeoffs in meeting it and a sensible order, so that your management can decide whether and how to address them.
WHAT THE STRATEGY PROVIDES
The constraint, the reasoning behind it and what would need to change before the decision is worth revisiting.
A Proceed recommendation does not on its own mean that your brand is ready for a full launch.
We recommend. Your management decides.
WHO LEADS THE WORK
Karthik Cherala
Co-Founder & Managing Director
Strategy & Commercial Development
Leads strategy and commercial development at Denkwise, including European Expansion and the Launch Proposition in Denkwise Advisory.
PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND
About two decades in international industrial product businesses across Europe, Asia and the Americas.
Rini Cherala
Co-Founder & Managing Director
Product & Design Direction
Leads product and collection strategy at Denkwise, including the Launch Collection and Design Direction in Denkwise Advisory.
PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND
Architect and design entrepreneur with experience across international design, luxury goods and retail.
FEE AND TERMS
A fixed scope and a fixed fee
Scope and fee are agreed in writing before work begins.
STANDARD ENGAGEMENT
€40,000
plus applicable tax.
FOUNDING CLIENT ENGAGEMENT
€32,000
plus applicable tax, subject to founding-client conditions.
75% of the fee is due to begin the work and 25% at the agreed midpoint. Expenses are charged at cost. The fee is not refunded if our recommendation is Prepare or Pause.
Included: the management interviews, the screening and testing of options, and the European Expansion Strategy.
Not included: in-depth development of your collection or brand proposition, which is the focus of Launch Collection and Launch Proposition, and implementation. Your team, or specialists you appoint, carry out the Strategy.
DENKWISE ADVISORY ENGAGEMENTS
European Expansion is complete in itself.
Every Advisory relationship begins with European Expansion. Where its findings show that more work would help, four engagements can follow. Further support depends on what your brand needs and each engagement’s scope and availability. You can also act on the Strategy with your own team or specialists you appoint. Each further engagement is optional, agreed and paid separately.
THE STRATEGY ENGAGEMENT
European Expansion
Whether, where and how to enter Europe, with our recommendation and the European Expansion Strategy. Ten weeks, fixed scope and fee.
Launch Collection
Helps you develop the range with which your brand enters Europe: which products lead, how the launch range is built and where it has gaps, and how each price relates to what the product offers. You receive product-by-product launch decisions and development briefs for your team. Product design, sourcing and production stay with your team and suppliers.
Offered after European Expansion, where its findings show deeper preparation of the range is needed.
Launch Proposition
Helps you define what your brand stands for in Europe and how it expresses its value: its position, the customer it serves, its key claims and its messaging. You receive the written proposition with priorities for putting it into practice. Your brand stays the same brand. It does not create a new identity or produce design work.
Offered after European Expansion, where its findings show the proposition needs deeper work.
Design Direction
Directs design work for your digital presence, packaging or brand identity. Denkwise writes the direction and the specialist brief, supports the choice of specialists and reviews their work. The specialists you appoint produce it.
Digital and packaging direction are available after European Expansion. Brand-identity direction follows a Launch Proposition and is not available through European Expansion alone.
Decision Governance
Senior oversight while your team implements the Strategy. It includes a monthly decision review, written review of up to three pieces of work a month and a quarterly report.
Available after European Expansion.
HOW WE WORK
QUESTIONS
We take no fees, commissions or other benefits from specialists we recommend.
We are not a distributor, importer, agent or sales representative for your products.
Do we need all of these engagements?
No. European Expansion is complete in itself. Each further engagement is optional, agreed and paid separately, and used only where it helps.
What if the recommendation is Pause?
Pause is a complete answer. It names the constraint that stands in the way for now, and what would change it. Every proposal states at the outset that Proceed, Prepare and Pause are all possible.
START A CONVERSATION
Tell us where you want to take your brand.
Tell us briefly about your business and the European question in front of you.
We use your details only to respond to your inquiry. See our privacy policy.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
1
If it looks like a fit, we will be in touch to arrange a short conversation.
2
In that conversation, we learn about your situation and whether European Expansion fits.
3
If it fits and we can take it on, we send a written proposal with scope, fee and timing.
4
The engagement begins once you accept the proposal, sign the engagement letter and agree a start date.
You can also write to us at info@denkwise.com.