If you own a business, you’ll find that its growth will eventually hit a ceiling. Sometimes lack of growth can show up through slowing sales or rising customer acquisition costs (CACs). Other times, it’s more subtle. For example, you might realize your current market is too small to support the roadmap you’ve put in place. When that moment comes, your next steps need to be strategic: 73% of US business leaders say identifying and entering new markets is a challenge. Below, you’ll find a practical framework for how to expand your business—with clarity, speed, and fewer wrong turns.

What’s in this article?

• How to define your goals when researching new markets for your business
  
• How to identify market gaps and trends
  
• How to evaluate new market potential
  
• How and why to validate a new market before scaling
  
• What businesses need to consider when entering new international markets
  

How to define your goals when researching new markets for your business

Before you begin looking at data, you need to know what you’re looking for. Expanding into a new market starts with setting specific goals for your business.

Here’s where to begin.

Understand your value proposition

What problem does your business solve, and who do you solve it for? The answer might seem obvious, but when you apply it to a new market, the context can shift. Does this same problem exist in the new market? Does it show up differently? Are the stakes higher, or is the urgency lower?

Define your ideal customer

Don’t assume your current audience is the same as your next one. Nail down the traits of your target customer in the new market. Who are they? What do they need? How do they discover, evaluate, and buy products like yours?

Be precise about success

“Grow revenue” isn’t a clear goal. Do you want to reach $5 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) in a new vertical? Are you trying to reduce dependency on one market? Maybe you want to launch in three countries by year-end. The more specific your goal, the more useful it will be for you. Document your goal in writing. Even a simple one-page plan can help you track and adjust as you go.

Look for signals that support your direction

Sometimes the best clues come from your existing users. Are customers using your product in ways you didn’t expect? Are prospects from outside your core market reaching out? That inbound interest might offer hints about where to look next.

How to identify market gaps and trends

The most valuable new markets aren’t always obvious. They can emerge at the edges, where customer needs are underserved or where momentum is building just under the radar. To find them, you need a system for connecting scattered signals into something actionable.

Start with what’s missing

A “market gap” is something customers are already experiencing. You’ll usually find it in one of three places:

• Unmet needs: Look for use cases that existing solutions don’t cover or don’t handle well. This could be due to missing features, clunky workflows, or narrow customer targeting.
  
• Customer workarounds: When users start hacking your product—or someone else’s—to do something unintended, it means they’re solving for a problem no one’s addressed directly. Take the hint.
  
• Persistent complaints: Public reviews, support tickets, and community forums often reveal common frustrations. If the same issues keep showing up, this could point to an unmet need.
  

Run a competitive review, but focus less on product parity and more on what others have overlooked.

Spot the trend lines early

While gaps show you what’s missing, trends show you where demand is building. This can be harder to quantify, but it’s not impossible.

Watch for:

• Shifts in customer behavior: New habits often signal evolving priorities. If you see a spike in mobile payments, for example, that’s a clue to rethink user experience (UX).
  
• Regulatory changes: These often spark new demand for tools built around user consent, access, and data control.
  
• Technology adoption curves: When new tech becomes cheaper or mainstream, entire categories can emerge or change shape.
  

To track this in real time, scan:

• Google Trends for rising search volume
  
• Niche industry blogs or journals for firsthand signals
  
• Investment activity, mergers, and acquisitions in your adjacent markets
  

None of these data points mean much on their own, necessarily, but if three or four start pointing in the same direction, you might be looking at an early-stage shift.

Use your own data

Sometimes, emerging demand is visible in your own usage metrics.

• Are customers from a different industry or geography adopting your product with zero targeting?
  
• Is a surprising segment showing high customer retention or usage?
  
• Are teams stretching your product in unexpected ways?
  

These edge behaviors might be your best window into a new segment worth formalizing.

Structure your findings

It’s easy to lose hours in data without getting closer to an answer. To stay on course, track themes across sources (e.g., competitor audits, reviews, inbound interest, usage data), and then group insights by frequency and urgency. Which issues come up the most, and who needs them solved now? Use a simple doc or spreadsheet to make patterns visible over time.

Spotting market gaps and trends means systematically recognizing where demand is forming and where you’re positioned to meet it better than anyone else.

How to evaluate new market potential

A market gap might look interesting on the surface, but before you commit significant time or capital, you need to know whether the opportunity is viable, sustainable, and makes sense for your business.

Here’s what to ask yourself when evaluating new market potential.

Is there real demand?

You need to know if people in this market actually want what you’re offering. Look for evidence of active demand—not just theoretical interest. Use search volume, online behavior, or early customer inquiries as indicators. Be careful not to confuse total population size with product-market fit. Just because a market is big doesn’t mean the whole segment needs your solution.

If you’re building something for a problem no one cares enough about to solve, you’ll be fighting an uphill battle, no matter how polished your product is.

What’s the market size, and is it growing?

After confirming demand, you need to quantify it. What’s the total addressable market (TAM) for your product in this new segment? Are there meaningful signs of growth, or is the market flat? What’s the economic context? Consider spending power, income levels, and digital adoption. These shape your customer base’s readiness to buy. A smaller but fast-growing market can offer more upside than a stagnant one ten times the size.

Who else is already in the space?

Evaluate the competitive landscape. How many players are active here, and how strong are they? Where are they overperforming? Where are they falling short? Is the market saturated, or is there room for something new?

You’re looking for an opening: a customer need you can meet more effectively, more affordably, or more credibly than what’s out there now. The more crowded the space, the more clearly you’ll need to differentiate your product—or rethink your entry point entirely.

What are the barriers to entry?

Look into:

• Legal requirements (e.g., licenses, registrations, and local restrictions)
  
• Tax systems, especially in cross-border markets
  
• Infrastructure limitations, such as logistics, customer support, or payments
  
• Cultural expectations, including product localization and customer behavior
  

These can all impact cost, timing, and approach. Get a clear view early so you don’t encounter surprises later.

Can you sell profitably?

Next, stress-test your pricing and economics. What do similar products or services cost locally? Will customers expect lower prices than in your home market, and can your margins support that? What does it cost to acquire and support customers in this new market? Are those numbers sustainable at scale?

Unit economics in one market don’t always transfer neatly to another. Adjust your pricing model, CAC, and service costs accordingly, and then rerun the math.

Does this market match your broader strategy?

Just because you can enter a new market doesn’t mean you should.

Consider whether:

• It’s a natural extension of your current product and capabilities
  
• It opens up downstream opportunities you’ve already planned for
  
• You’re willing to commit the time and resources needed to win there
  

Some markets can be short-term tests or opportunistic plays. But it’s important to be clear on what role this market will play in your overall growth roadmap.

How and why to validate a new market before scaling

Before you commit to a new market, you need to test your assumptions in the real world. That’s the purpose of market validation: proving there’s traction before you invest serious time, money, or headcount. It involves simulating just enough of your business in the new market to see how customers respond.

Validating a market could look like:

• A targeted ad campaign to gauge interest
  
• Lightweight, localized versions of your site
  
• A limited-service pilot with a handful of early users
  
• Shipping your product to the region before setting up full local operations
  
• Soft launching to an adjacent segment or region and watching what sticks
  

Before you test, define what would count as validation. For example:

• A target number of sign-ups or purchases
  
• A certain conversion rate from test campaigns
  
• Retention benchmarks or repeat usage signals
  

Without these markers, it’s easy to rationalize weak results as being good enough. Draw the line first, then measure against it.

Validation gives you feedback on product-market fit in the new context, including signals about messaging, pricing, or onboarding friction. It shows you early signs of what might need to be localized or rethought. It also tells you what not to pursue, which is insight that is just as valuable. The goal is to learn quickly, make adjustments, and scale only once the signals are strong.

What businesses need to consider when entering new international markets

Expanding across borders introduces new considerations. Regulations, behaviors, expectations, and even infrastructure can vary widely from one country to the next. Here’s what to have on your radar before making the leap.

Legal, tax, and operating requirements

Every country has its own rules for doing business, and some are more straightforward than others.

• Do you need a local legal entity or tax ID?
  
• Are there specific licenses, permits, or sector-specific regulations?
  
• Do you need to register for sales tax, value-added tax (VAT), or goods and service tax (GST)?
  
• Are there restrictions on foreign ownership or required local partnerships?
  

Consider working with legal and financial advisors who specialize in the region.

Language and localization

Be careful about cultural context.

• Does your brand, tone, or tagline carry the same meaning in the local language?
  
• Do your user interface (UI) elements, error messages, and support content sound native, or do they sound like a machine wrote them?
  
• Are formats for currency, date, phone, and address localized?
  
• Are there cultural norms around color, imagery, or user experience that you’ll need to adjust for?
  

Good localization feels designed for the market from the start.

Local customer support

Offering support in-region can improve the customer experience. Customers often expect:

• Fast responses in their language
  
• Local contact options (e.g., messaging apps, phone, regional support portals)
  
• Self-service resources that reflect local terminology and examples
  

Support that feels “far away” can tank trust, especially in markets where face-to-face or phone-based service is still the norm.

Pricing and purchasing power

Your home-market pricing strategy won’t necessarily translate to a new market. Look at local purchasing power, price sensitivity, what comparable products cost in the new market, and whether your unit economics support a lower price if required.

Currency

It’s best practice to list prices in the local currency. Forcing cross-border buyers to calculate exchange rates—and potentially face unexpected conversion fees—creates barriers at checkout. This also affects your margins, so make sure your payment flows and transfer methods are optimized for international costs.

Preferred payment methods

You can’t grow in a market if people can’t, or won’t, pay you. Integrate local payment methods, such as:

• iDEAL in the Netherlands
  
• WeChat Pay and Alipay in China
  
• UPI in India
  
• OXXO in Mexico
  

Payment providers can offer businesses a shortcut here. Stripe, for example, supports more than 135 currencies and more than 100 payment methods. Whatever provider you use, make sure your checkout is tailored to how locals already pay.

Marketing and positioning

Even if your product is the same in the new market, the way you talk about it might need to change.

• What value propositions resonate in this market?
  
• Are your proof points and testimonials locally relevant?
  
• Do you need different messaging, different channels, or a different sales model altogether?
  

Customer expectations vary by country, so your positioning needs to meet them where they are.

International markets tend to reward patience and precision. Businesses that succeed are the ones that adapt thoughtfully, layer by layer, until their product feels like it was built for the new market from day one.