Digital Trade and Market Intelligence Training Course

Duration 10 days 20 modules · 65 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Export Managers, International Sales Managers and others
Fee from USD 2,200 KSh 190,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-M-044

Before you join: Participants should have basic experience in sales, marketing, export operations, market research, business development or commercial planning.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Trade, export and market-development teams must make decisions from fragmented signals: customs records, platform data, customer enquiries, competitor activity, tariff schedules, logistics costs and search behaviour. Without a disciplined approach, teams can mistake market noise for demand, target markets with weak commercial potential, or miss emerging buyers and channel shifts. This course addresses the practical work of turning digital trade data into defensible market choices, account priorities and commercial actions.

Participants learn how to frame trade intelligence questions, identify reliable public and subscription data sources, assess data quality and combine quantitative indicators with field evidence. The course covers market sizing, trade-flow analysis, country screening, competitor monitoring, buyer identification, digital demand signals, pricing intelligence and route-to-market assessment. Participants use tools including ITC Trade Map, UN Comtrade, Google Trends and Tableau to build evidence-led views of markets, products, buyers and competitors.

Instruction combines short technical briefings with sector cases from manufacturing, agribusiness, financial services, consumer goods, technology and development programmes. Participants work with realistic datasets, build analyses progressively from the first week, review assumptions with peers and translate findings into commercial decisions. They leave with a reusable digital trade and market intelligence pack containing a market-screening model, trade-flow analysis, buyer and competitor intelligence, source-validation checklist and action plan.

The course is suited to professionals responsible for export development, international sales, market research, business development, trade promotion, investment attraction or commercial strategy. It is particularly useful where teams need to justify market priorities to senior management, funders, boards or public-sector stakeholders.

What you will be able to do

  • Define decision-led trade intelligence questions using a structured intelligence brief
  • Assess market attractiveness using weighted country-screening criteria and scoring models
  • Analyse import, export and re-export patterns using HS-coded trade data
  • Validate digital market evidence through source evaluation, triangulation and confidence ratings
  • Identify priority buyers, distributors and competitors using account and channel mapping
  • Interpret search, platform and web signals to assess demand and buyer intent
  • Build Tableau dashboards that communicate market findings and commercial implications
  • Present a complete digital trade intelligence report with recommended market actions

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Produce defensible country and customer priorities from trade and digital evidence
  • Challenge weak market claims using source-quality and triangulation methods
  • Create concise visual dashboards for management, clients and funding stakeholders
  • Improve export prospecting through buyer, distributor and competitor intelligence
  • Build a portfolio-quality market intelligence report for immediate workplace use

For your organisation

  • Reduce wasted market-entry effort through evidence-based country prioritisation
  • Improve sales targeting with clearer buyer, channel and account intelligence
  • Create repeatable standards for collecting, validating and reporting market evidence
  • Strengthen business cases for export investment, trade promotion and market expansion
  • Shorten decision cycles through focused dashboards and commercially relevant recommendations

Course modules

20 modules over 10 days

Participants can frame a trade intelligence assignment around a specific commercial decision.

  • Decision-led intelligence questions linked to market entry, growth or risk
  • Intelligence cycle stages from requirements through collection, analysis and dissemination
  • Distinguishing market facts, assumptions, signals and commercially material evidence
  • Stakeholder decision rights, information needs and escalation thresholds
  • Problem statements structured through product, geography, customer and channel
  • Intelligence briefs specifying scope, deadlines, sources and required recommendations

Participants can interpret core trade datasets and select suitable product classifications.

  • HS nomenclature structure, chapter headings, subheadings and national tariff lines
  • Import, export, re-export and mirror statistics distinctions
  • Trade values, quantities, unit values and reporting currency conventions
  • Reporter, partner and world aggregates within bilateral trade datasets
  • Calendar-year reporting gaps, revisions and data publication lags
  • Product concordance checks when classifications change between reporting periods

Participants can assess digital sources for reliability, relevance and decision usefulness.

  • Source provenance assessed through publisher, method, date and stated limitations
  • Primary, secondary and derived data classified before analysis
  • Triangulation matrix comparing customs data, interviews, websites and platform signals
  • Confidence ratings assigned to market claims and forecast assumptions
  • Sampling bias, survivorship bias and promotional content detection
  • Evidence logs recording links, extraction dates, definitions and analytical notes

Participants can rank target markets using transparent weighted screening criteria.

  • Weighted scoring model built from demand, access, risk and capability
  • Market attractiveness versus company fit using a two-axis matrix
  • PESTLE factors translated into measurable country-screening indicators
  • Tariff, non-tariff measure and market-access indicators compared systematically
  • Sensitivity analysis testing weights, thresholds and uncertain inputs
  • Shortlist rationale documented for executive review and resource allocation

Participants can use trade-flow indicators to identify markets, suppliers and growth patterns.

  • ITC Trade Map queries configured by reporter, partner and HS code
  • Import growth, market share and supplier concentration interpreted together
  • Compound annual growth rate calculated across comparable reporting periods
  • Top importing markets separated from fastest-growing import opportunities
  • Supplier-country shares used to identify competitive intensity and dependence
  • Trade-flow findings translated into market-selection hypotheses and caveats

Participants can extract and compare UN Comtrade records for bilateral market analysis.

  • UN Comtrade reporter selection aligned with the buyer-market question
  • HS code selection verified against product specifications and customs descriptions
  • Annual bilateral flows extracted for trend and concentration analysis
  • Mirror-data comparisons used where direct reporter data are incomplete
  • Quantity units normalised before calculating unit-value comparisons
  • Missing values, confidential records and reporting anomalies documented clearly

Participants can build transparent market-size estimates from multiple evidence sources.

  • Top-down market sizing using consumption, import and production indicators
  • Bottom-up estimates built from customer counts, usage rates and prices
  • Apparent consumption calculated from production, imports and exports
  • Addressable market separated from serviceable and obtainable market estimates
  • Scenario ranges developed for uncertain demand, pricing and adoption assumptions
  • Sizing assumptions reconciled with trade flows and buyer evidence

Participants can interpret search behaviour as supporting evidence of market demand.

  • Google Trends queries structured by term, geography, category and period
  • Search-interest patterns compared against seasonality, campaigns and market events
  • Keyword intent classified as informational, commercial, transactional or navigational
  • Related queries used to identify buyer language and emerging demand themes
  • Search signals triangulated with trade data before market recommendations
  • False demand signals identified from news events and temporary publicity

Participants can identify, qualify and prioritise prospective buyers using structured account research.

  • Ideal customer profile defined through need, capability, volume and access
  • Account dossiers covering ownership, portfolio, procurement and decision-makers
  • Buyer qualification using BANT adapted for international business-to-business sales
  • Import records and supplier relationships used for prospect prioritisation
  • Buying-centre maps identifying users, influencers, buyers and approvers
  • Account scores combining fit, potential, readiness and relationship strength

Participants can assess channel options and select suitable distribution partners.

  • Channel mapping from producer through importer, distributor, retailer and end-user
  • Distributor evaluation criteria covering reach, capability, incentives and compliance
  • Margin-stack analysis tracing price build-up across channel participants
  • Channel conflict risks identified between direct, distributor and marketplace sales
  • Route-to-market options compared using control, cost, speed and coverage
  • Partner due-diligence questions structured for commercial and reputational risks

Participants can construct a competitor picture and develop evidence-based pricing hypotheses.

  • Competitor universe defined by substitute, direct and emerging alternatives
  • Feature-benefit comparison tables linked to target buyer requirements
  • Porter's Five Forces used to assess market power and entry barriers
  • Price corridor analysis comparing list prices, transaction prices and value
  • Websites, catalogues and marketplaces monitored for offer and pricing changes
  • Competitive claims tested against customer evidence and independent sources

Participants can incorporate market-access and compliance factors into commercial recommendations.

  • Tariff schedules interpreted by origin, HS code and preferential treatment
  • Rules of origin implications identified for product sourcing decisions
  • Incoterms 2020 responsibilities compared for export quotation and risk allocation
  • Technical regulations, labelling rules and conformity requirements captured
  • Sanctions, restricted-party and export-control checks placed within research workflows
  • Compliance findings translated into costs, lead times and market-entry constraints

Participants can collect web and platform evidence ethically and document its limitations.

  • Website research protocols capturing offers, customers, channels and geographic coverage
  • Marketplace listings assessed for assortment, price points and review patterns
  • Social listening themes coded by need, sentiment, competitor and trigger
  • Webpage-change monitoring used to detect launches, tenders and strategic shifts
  • Terms of service, privacy rules and ethical collection boundaries
  • Digital observations recorded with timestamps, screenshots and source links

Participants can prepare market datasets that are traceable, comparable and ready for analysis.

  • Data dictionaries defining fields, units, sources and transformation rules
  • Duplicate records removed using identifiers, matching logic and review flags
  • Country names, currencies and date formats standardised before merging
  • Outliers investigated through source checks, domain knowledge and sensitivity tests
  • Calculated fields documented with formulas, assumptions and version controls
  • Audit trails connecting dashboard figures to original downloaded datasets

Participants can build decision-ready Tableau views from validated trade and market data.

  • Tableau data connections configured for spreadsheets and structured extracts
  • Calculated fields created for growth, shares, rankings and market scores
  • Maps, trend charts and scatterplots selected for specific decision questions
  • Filters and parameters designed for product, market and period comparisons
  • Dashboard hierarchy directing attention from headline finding to supporting evidence
  • Annotation standards distinguishing observed data, estimates and recommendations

Participants can convert analytical findings into clear commercial implications and actions.

  • Insight statements connecting evidence, implication, action and responsible owner
  • Root-cause analysis separating structural trends from short-term market movements
  • Opportunity-risk matrix prioritising actions by value, probability and controllability
  • Hypotheses framed for customer validation, channel testing and sales outreach
  • Leading indicators selected to monitor market-entry assumptions after launch
  • Recommendation logic tested against capabilities, budget and market-access constraints

Participants can present trade intelligence findings in formats suited to decision-makers.

  • Executive summaries structured around decision, evidence, recommendation and next steps
  • Pyramid Principle applied to concise market intelligence communications
  • Charts selected to compare markets, show trends and expose concentration
  • Evidence caveats stated without obscuring commercially relevant conclusions
  • Decision memos assigning actions, owners, deadlines and review measures
  • Challenge questions anticipated for data reliability, risk and return assumptions

Participants can establish a repeatable process for maintaining market intelligence assets.

  • Intelligence operating model defining roles, requests, approvals and service levels
  • Source refresh schedules aligned with decision cycles and data availability
  • Research repository structures supporting retrieval, reuse and controlled access
  • Version-control conventions applied to datasets, dashboards and recommendation papers
  • Data protection considerations for customer, contact and account information
  • Performance measures tracking intelligence use, timeliness and commercial outcomes

Participants can adapt market intelligence methods to different products, sectors and buying contexts.

  • Manufactured goods case combining supplier concentration and distributor capability
  • Agribusiness case assessing seasonality, standards, perishability and import demand
  • Financial services case mapping cross-border client segments and regulatory signals
  • Technology case evaluating digital adoption, partner ecosystems and competitive offers
  • Development programme case selecting export sectors using employment and trade evidence
  • Consumer goods case linking search demand, marketplaces and retail channel data

Participants can build, review and present a complete digital trade and market intelligence pack for a defined commercial decision.

  • Intelligence brief defining product, decision-maker, markets and commercial question
  • Country-screening model ranking markets against transparent weighted criteria
  • Trade-flow analysis substantiating demand, supplier structure and market momentum
  • Buyer, distributor and competitor profiles informing route-to-market choices
  • Tableau dashboard presenting findings, caveats and priority commercial actions
  • Executive presentation defending recommendations under stakeholder challenge

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Digital trade intelligence brief template
  2. Weighted market-screening scorecard
  3. Trade-flow analysis workbook
  4. Buyer and distributor account dossier template
  5. Market intelligence Tableau dashboard model
  6. Executive market-entry recommendation pack

Who should attend

  • Export Managers — need evidence to select and prioritise overseas markets
  • International Sales Managers — need buyer, channel and competitor intelligence for account plans
  • Market Research Analysts — need structured methods for converting digital sources into decisions
  • Business Development Managers — need credible market cases for new product or country entry
  • Trade Promotion Officers — need repeatable intelligence methods for exporter support programmes
  • Strategy and Investment Analysts — need trade evidence to assess sector and location opportunities

Skills and tools covered

Trade-flow analysisMarket screeningBuyer intelligenceCompetitor monitoringData visualisationCommercial recommendations

Tools and standards

ITC Trade Map, UN Comtrade, Google Trends, Tableau

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce methods, data sources and analytical standards, followed by guided case work using trade, search, competitor and buyer data. Small-group exercises test country-screening assumptions, source reliability and commercial recommendations. Participants build their own intelligence pack in stages, using realistic market-entry scenarios and peer review to improve the evidence trail. Simulations require teams to brief decision-makers who challenge data quality, market attractiveness and proposed actions. Individual application planning connects course outputs to current work priorities.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have basic experience in sales, marketing, export operations, market research, business development or commercial planning. They should be comfortable reading tables, interpreting simple percentages and using spreadsheet software for sorting, filtering and basic formulas. Familiarity with international trade terminology, such as imports, exports, tariffs and distributors, is helpful but not essential. No programming, data-science qualification, advanced statistics or prior Tableau experience is required. Participants should bring a laptop and, where permitted, a current market, product or customer question from their work.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should have basic commercial, export, research or market-development experience and be comfortable using spreadsheets. Advanced statistics, programming and previous Tableau experience are not required.

Bring a laptop capable of running spreadsheet and browser-based tools. If your employer permits it, bring a current product, target market or customer-development question to use in your application work.

It is designed for export, international sales, business development, market research, trade promotion and strategy professionals. It also suits analysts supporting investment attraction, sector development or cross-border growth programmes.

General market research courses often focus on surveys, interviews and broad customer research. This course concentrates on trade flows, digital evidence, market access, buyer intelligence, competitor monitoring and market-entry decisions.

Participants build reusable templates and analyses around a real or realistic commercial question. The resulting intelligence pack can support country prioritisation, export planning, distributor selection, account targeting or management reporting.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. The first week establishes data, screening and market-analysis methods; the second week develops buyer, channel, dashboard, reporting and capstone work.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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