Read time: 7 min · Kasper-Tanakrit Sermsuksan, Founder, SEA Bridge
Before you talk to anyone in a new market, you should already know what the market has published about itself. Every serious market research process starts here — not because published data is more accurate than what you will hear in interviews, but because it is cheaper, faster, and tells you what questions to ask.
An advisor who goes into an interview already knowing the market size, the competitive landscape, and the regulatory requirements can use the conversation to go deeper. An advisor who uses interviews to gather information available online is wasting the most valuable research time available.
“Exhaust what is publicly knowable before spending anyone's time on primary research. The market has already published more signal than most researchers know how to find.”
Three research layers, in sequence
Layer 1 is secondary research — what is already published. Industry reports, government data, academic sources, local news. This gives you the macro picture.
Layer 2 is digital signals — what the market generates through behavior without publishing it explicitly. Search trends, eCommerce bestseller rankings, social community sizes, job postings, app downloads. This gives you real-time behavior, not historical analysis.
Layer 3 is primary research — what you learn from conversations with people inside the market. This is covered in Article 5. The point of Layers 1 and 2 is to arrive at Layer 3 already knowing enough to ask the questions only insiders can answer.
TAM, SAM, and SOM: why the smallest number is the most important
Any recommendation that says "this is a large market" needs a number behind it. The standard framework is TAM, SAM, SOM — three nested questions that force you to be specific about what the client can actually reach.
TAM (Total Addressable Market) is the full market if you captured everyone. SAM (Serviceable Addressable Market) is the segment you can realistically reach given the client's model, geography, and price point. SOM (Serviceable Obtainable Market) is what the client can realistically capture in Year 1 to 3, constrained by their actual operational capacity.
The SOM is the most important number and the one most often skipped. It forces an honest conversation about what the client can actually do — not what the market could theoretically support. A wellness brand with one business development person in Bangkok has a very different SOM from a platform company with a scalable digital distribution model. Both may face the same TAM. The SOM reveals the real strategic constraint.
Sequoia Capital — TAM/SAM/SOM in market sizing: https://www.sequoiacap.com/article/writing-a-business-plan/
Jobs-to-be-Done: do not assume the job is the same in the new market
Jobs-to-be-Done (developed by Clayton Christensen) asks: what job is the customer hiring this product to do? In a home market, that job is usually well understood. In a new market, it is frequently different — and assuming it is the same is one of the most costly expansion mistakes we see repeatedly.
A snack brand that succeeds in Thailand because consumers hire it to do the "familiar comfort food" job may find that in Vietnam, the same product gets hired for a completely different job — gifting, or status signaling, or novelty. The product is the same. The job is different. The marketing, the packaging, the price point, and the distribution channel should all reflect the actual job, not the assumed one.
Before entering any new ASEAN market, ask: are we assuming the job is the same as at home? Verify it. The answer changes more often than most companies expect.
Harvard Business Review — Know Your Customers’ Jobs to Be Done: https://hbr.org/2016/09/know-your-customers-jobs-to-be-done
Six questions every research section must answer
Use these as your search brief, not section headers. Every claim needs a named source, a year, and a URL.
Questions 1–3
1 What is the market size and CAGR? (Two independent sources, specific numbers)
2 What are the key growth drivers? (Named factors with evidence)
3 Who are the top competitors and what gap exists? (Named, with position)
Questions 4–6
4 How do customers in this market actually behave? (Discovery, payment, decision)
5 What are the regulatory requirements? (Named laws, licensing, restrictions)
6 What is the country-of-origin signal? (How the market perceives the client's home country)
Digital signals: reading what the market does
Markets leave footprints. Search trends, eCommerce rankings, social community activity, hiring patterns — all of this is observable before any interview. The key discipline: look in the local language, not just English.
Searching "wellness supplements Thailand" in English returns international industry reports. Searching in Thai returns what Thai consumers are actually discussing, what local brands are ranking, and what pricing signals the domestic market is producing. Both perspectives matter. The local-language signal is usually closer to the real market behavior.
eCommerce platforms are live demand data. Sorting Shopee Vietnam or Tokopedia Indonesia by best-selling in a food or wellness category tells you what people are actually buying, at what price, from which sellers. This is often more accurate than published consumer research because it reflects real purchasing decisions.
Job posting patterns reveal strategic intent before announcements. A company posting country-specific roles — country manager, local content lead, regional sales — is expanding into that market. LinkedIn makes this visible in real time.
The local language gap
English-language research returns what the international community says about a market. Local-language research returns what the market says about itself. Always check both. In ASEAN, the gap between them is often the most important finding in the research — and the one most often skipped by outside analysts.
Where to find secondary sources
Consulting reports
Big-picture trends, consumer shifts, competitive dynamics
McKinsey Global Institute (free), Bain Insights (free), BCG Henderson Institute (free)
Market research databases
Market size, CAGR, consumer segmentation
Statista (limited free), Euromonitor (paid), category-specific associations
Government trade bodies
Official data, regulatory requirements, export incentives
DITP Thailand, BKPM Indonesia, DTI Philippines, Enterprise Singapore
Development banks
GDP, infrastructure, ease of doing business
World Bank Open Data (free), ADB (free), IMF (free)
Local news and press
Current conditions, competitive moves, regulatory changes
VnExpress (Vietnam), Kompas (Indonesia), Bangkok Post (Thailand) — in local language
Further reading
Working on an expansion into ASEAN?
SEA Bridge supports companies in Wellness & Longevity, Food & F&B, AI & Digital, Creative Economy, and Education across Southeast Asia — from market diagnosis through to go-to-market execution. We bring both the methodology and the network to make things move.
Get in touch: team@seabridge.space
A Note for ASEAN1967 & B2M Fellows
The most common Block C mistake is stopping at English-language sources. Do the local-language research. Check the eCommerce platforms. Run the search terms in Vietnamese or Bahasa. That is where the real signals are. End Block C with a clear paragraph on what secondary research could not answer — those become your Block D interview questions, not loose ends.
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