Grasshopper Leaps Into Singapore
Grasshopper Mowers, headquartered in Moundridge, Kansas, manufactures commercial & residential mowers, snow removal equipment, and ground care equipment. The company has been successfully exporting to Western Europe but wanted to expand further globally.
In June 2020, U.S. Commercial Service (USCS) Wichita and USCS Rural Export Center (REC) held a call with Ray Garvey, Export Manager of Grasshopper Mowers to discuss market entry assistance available through the Rural Export Center’s RAISE program. In late June, Grasshopper Mowers agreed that moving forward with conducting a Matrix + 3 Country Report would be a good opportunity for the company to identify new markets to consider targeting.
In July, the Rural Export Center delivered a Matrix that included country-by-country comparisons of market indicators approved by Grasshopper. The report recommended 5 Asia-Pacific countries which included Singapore as the top-ranking country in Asia and fourth overall.
In 2023, Grasshopper stated that the company had signed an agreement with a distributor in Singapore and has sold 6-figures worth of mowers to the island country. Mr. Garvey indicated that the impetus for seeking new distribution in Singapore was the RAISE MATRIX research report which indicated that Singapore was a promising market prompting Grasshopper to give additional consideration to the market.
“The international market analysis provided by RAISE proved to be informational and strategically valuable to our export efforts. We continue to generate new export scenarios months after the service was initially performed, thanks to the ability to look at the data in many different ways and with emphasis on a variety of variables that impact our market success. The U.S. Commercial Service continues to be an important member of our export efforts.” - Ray Garvey, Export Manager of Grasshopper Mowers
Grasshopper and the U.S. Commercial Service Wichita continue to work together to find new partners in markets around the world.
Through the U.S. Small Business Administration and the Kansas Department of Commerce, the State Trade Expansion Program (STEP) grant helped facilitate the RAISE Report.