From the American market for hot beverages to the economic potential of Southeast Asia: Euromonitor's internationally comparable statistics help companies around the world make strategic decisions. In the future, the British market research company also wants to become more active in Europe and has now opened its second European office in Düsseldorf. William Henderson, Managing Director, explains in an interview how this decision was made and how Euromonitor intends to position itself in the future.
- Euromonitor International recently opened its new European regional office for the German-speaking DACH region in Düsseldorf. Why did you decide to locate in NRW and Düsseldorf in particular?
Euromonitor International made the decision for the Düsseldorf location because of its proximity to key customers, good transport links to customers in other regions and large market potential in NRW and nearby Hessen. It is a central location with rapid connections within Germany and Europe. The decision also took into account the 2016 Mercer study, which looks at quality of living in 450 cities. Dusseldorf is as the 6th best city to live and work in worldwide – a position it holds today. As such, the decision to move to Düsseldorf was made before the Brexit referendum in Great Britain. Düsseldorf is a lively city with a very international flair. This fits very well with Euromonitor's open, multicultural corporate philosophy. People from all over the world work together at Euromonitor.
- How did NRW.INVEST support you in your decision-making?
NRW.INVEST were extremely helpful to Euromonitor International and we are very grateful for their assistance. They helped us find the ideal location for our business needs and assisted Euromonitor in the pre-office set up. This involved giving us key advice on matters such as Payroll, Human resources, Legal and Taxation issues and crucially then connecting us with experts in these areas. This made the initial move much easier than it would have otherwise been. They are a very experienced and knowledgeable team.
- How do you go about searching for qualified employees in Düsseldorf?
Euromonitor has a very talented internal recruiting team that filled the vacancies after an exhaustive search for suitable candidates, many of whom are from the local area but equally have a diverse range of talents and linguistic competencies. In the long term, with so many universities nearby, we also benefit from a large talent pool. We intend to build relationships with these universities and employ graduates from these institutions.
- The market for providers of market analyses is large. How does Euromonitor stand out from the competition?
Euromonitor International is a global market research company providing strategic intelligence on industries, companies, economies and consumers around the world. Comprehensive international coverage and insights across consumer goods, business-to-business and service industries make our research an essential resource for businesses of all sizes. Bridging methodologies based on data science and on-the-ground research, we distill strategic and tactical data through flexible solutions, giving real-world context for business decisions. For this reason, we have over a 1000 analysts in 100 countries and provide information on all distribution channels. Researching so many industries, in more detail, is one of our key strengths.
- What will be your upcoming milestones here in Germany? And when do you want to achieve them?
We made an ambitious choice with our office selection as it has plenty of room to expand into: our aim is to grow our personnel by 30% over the next 3 years. We are confident we can do this as where we have opened offices in other countries we have seen our presence grow significantly.
We will increase the public awareness of our who we are and what we do by being speaking at more trade fairs and conferences - we have already tripled the number since last year and we will continue this trend. We want to be keynote speakers and the most prestigious events. By growing our clients, strengthening the relationships of existing clients and growing our profile we believe we will succeed in our aims.