What Is Export Market Scoring?
Export market scoring ranks potential export markets by their attractiveness for your specific product. It turns gut feel into a data-driven expansion decision.
Key Takeaways
- Export market scoring ranks countries on criteria relevant to your product and business.
- Common criteria: market size, growth rate, ease of doing business, trade barriers, competition.
- A scoring model prevents founder bias toward familiar markets that may not be the best fit.
What export market scoring is
Export market scoring is a structured way to evaluate and rank potential export markets for your product. Rather than deciding based on intuition ('I've heard Germany is good for this') or familiarity ('we'll try the US because we speak English'), scoring applies consistent criteria across all candidate markets and ranks them objectively.
Common scoring criteria
Market size and growth (total addressable market, historical and forecast growth). Tariff barriers (duty rates, non-tariff barriers). Ease of market entry (regulatory complexity, language, distribution infrastructure). Competitive intensity (number and quality of local competitors). Logistics cost (distance, freight routes, transit time). Cultural and commercial proximity.
How to build a scoring model
List your candidate markets (usually 10–20). Identify five to eight criteria relevant to your product. Weight each criterion by importance (weights should sum to 100%). Score each country on each criterion (typically 1–5). Multiply score by weight and sum for a total. Rank by total score. The top-ranked markets are your starting point for deeper research.
AskBiz Export Market Scoring
AskBiz's export market scoring module applies this methodology automatically using live trade data, tariff rates, ease-of-business indices, and market size data. You specify your product category and home market, and receive a ranked list of export markets with a breakdown of how each scored on each criterion.