Rail is a growing market & offers potential new sales opportunities

The UK rail industry is embarking on “the biggest change to railways in 25 years”. As a result, rail is a growing market and offers potential new sales opportunities. Perhaps, new opportunities for your products, services and business growth.

Known as a hard market to crack. For decades rail suppliers have been left unchallenged. All the while reaping high margin sales, and often failing to add fresh value.

“Rail buyers welcome new relationships, innovation & creative new products or services”

Now the industry is set for new investment and major growth. Significantly, rail buyers are receptive to expanding their supply chain partners even more so now than ever.

So in brief, this could make rail a strong target market sector for your business.

Rail has limited suppliers

A criticism shared by UK rail industry buyers is that there are limited industry suppliers.  As the ‘cost of entry is high’, there has been great security for established rail suppliers once inside the sector. Due to limited competition, many suppliers charge high prices to their rail customers. Perhaps also, there has been very little motivation for innovation.

Rail buyers welcome new relationships, innovation and creative new products or services. However, they explain that unfortunately new suppliers are just not interested in rail.

In this article we take a look at why many suppliers avoid rail. What is changing that could, and should, inspire a fresh look. In addition, offering a few tips on how you can enter the rail market.

Find out more about the UK rail industry. And if you want, we can help fast track your entry, growth and success in time to benefit from the next boom in rail.

Why avoid Rail?

As already stated, there are very few competitors for suppliers in the rail sector. There is also lots of available work. So, what is making so many suppliers decide to leave this market alone and avoid rail?

Ultimately all business leaders operate with finite resources. Even when considering the potential large rewards on offer, rail is traditionally viewed as too hard, too slow, and too expensive to enter.  Many businesses have learnt the hard way just how hard this can be, investing hundreds of thousands in activity without success.

There is no doubt the potential in rail is enormous. Many highly profitable companies exist exclusively servicing the rail sector.

It is also worth noting, driven by specific political, contractual, environmental, and social factors, as investment in rail increases, the market will continue to offer great business potential for suppliers

Unfortunately however, like many niche industries the rail sector is built on a history of strong and complex relationships.

“driven by specific political, contractual, environmental, & social factors, as investment in rail continues, the market will continue to offer great business potential for suppliers”

From outside, decisions often appear to be without reason. Even companies that have secured some new business in rail describe the experience as uncomfortable and demanding.

The fact is rail is a hard market to enter, and as a result most suppliers have been put off from trying.

What has changed?

In short the world has. As a result, for numerous reasons we live in an increasingly dynamic world and business environment.  Every sector has faced unprecedented change due to covid, and will continue to do so for other reasons in the future too. However, the disruptive new norm is another topic. So to stay on track, pardon the pun, the rail industry has been heading towards change for many years.

Decades of underinvestment after both world wars led to an infrastructure that was dangerous and incredibly difficult to maintain.  Privatisation encouraged investment and restored the industry to a position leading the world.

Re-nationalising the UK rail sector has been discussed since the first days of privatisation. However, it gained further momentum in late 2019.  Since several high profile commercial failures, the government have been forced to step in and take over some failing train services.

Ultimately there are two ways to get into rail, either the long term or fast track strategy

The disruption caused by covid, as well as other factors, has led the government to make decisions. As an example, the recently announced new structure of the unified Great British Railways (GBR) brand, and tens of billions in new investment into other rail projects.

With a strengthened, larger infrastructure, rail now has the further boost of significant government investment.

The new GBR structure alone means a complete rebrand of every single station. Every train. Every depot. Every support office. Every control centre. Every member of staff etc.

So, in summary, rail is facing unprecedented growth and will receive major investment for the years ahead.

How do companies get rail work?

The rail industry industry would welcome, and equally like to help, new suppliers. However, the industry and its buyers are already overwhelmed addressing the extra workload as it introduces thousands of brand new trains, new stations and a reimagined unified Great British Railways train service.

So, ultimately there are two ways for new suppliers to get into rail, with the aim of securing business. In brief, the options are, either the long term or fast track strategy. However, either way, both options require immediate action.

The long term strategy

The first is the long term strategy. This requires businesses to invest in developing the resources and expertise to create a position in rail. Recognising it will be expensive and slow, determined business leaders can successfully access the rewards of the rail industry, by building a team to evaluate and support entry into this market over the years ahead .

Admittedly, unlocking the most imminent phase of rail opportunities may have passed by this time. However, with the right team and management in place, there is still a large ongoing market to tap into over the next 5, 10 or 20 years. As a result, business success in rail is very much achievable long-term.

The growth hack strategy

The second way into rail is to fast track market entry and expansion. The growth hack strategy is adopted by business leaders who do not want to wait. To achieve this, they engage a rail industry advisor to help accelerate their success in the rail sector.

A rail industry advisors will explain how the sector works. Equip your team with rail specific expertise. Clarify and resolve the minimum entry requirements for your products or services, and help you position your company to sell into the rail market. In addition, they can make appropriate introductions to rail clients, and ultimately accelerate results as quickly as possible.

Summary

In summary, the rail sector is receiving significant investment. Rail buyers are already working on their plans, and are identifying their specific needs. There are currently limited suppliers. Rail industry clients are receptive to expanding their supply chain, and would actively welcome new products, services and innovation.

To unlock the growing number of opportunities, companies wishing to enter the market, and benefit from the growth in rail, are advised to take immediate action.

If you’re interested in learning more about rail, and exploring how to accelerate your growth in the sector, contact us now. We’re able to offer a limited number of consultations with a leading rail expert and industry advisor.

Our rail industry consultant will help you discover more about this sector. Enabling you to quickly establish if your business is well positioned, or not, for the rail industry. Once you understand what is required, of course, you may decide the market is not for you.

However, engaging expert advise from our, or another, specialist rail consultant will save you significant investment in learning the complexities of the market on your own. And if you want to proceed with targeting this growth market, a rail industry specialist can accelerate your success.

Don’t miss out

If you’re interested in learning more about the rail industry, don’t miss out on this opportunity.

For a limited time only we can offer you the chance of a no obligation meeting with a leading rail industry consultant. Message us to arrange a conversation, and secure your chance to discover more about rail from an industry expert.