# How to run a market analysis before launching new lab equipment

A market analysis for new equipment has to answer who will buy it, for which modality and scale, against which alternative, and how many units you can realistically sell. You build it by combining public data, such as the AseBio and Biocat reports, interviews with buyers, feedback from distributors and a thorough look at the competition. It is best done before engineering freezes the design.

[Web version](https://www.crida.studio/en/insights/guides/market-analysis-new-lab-equipment/)

By David Monje, crida studio · Published 2026-01-15 · Updated 2026-01-15

## What the analysis has to answer before launch

The analysis has to lead to a decision. It should say which customers will buy the equipment, for which modality, such as monoclonal antibodies, vaccines, cell therapy or microbial fermentation, and at what scale, lab, pilot or production. It should also say what those customers use today and why they would switch.

Do it before engineering freezes the design, while you can still change volumes, connections or the control software. If you do it afterwards, it will only justify what has already been built. Give it a clear goal from the start, such as deciding whether the equipment goes ahead, for which customer and with what message.

## Public data gives you the first map

Start with industry reports. The AseBio Report 2025, with 2024 data, counts 1,119 biotech companies in Spain. Catalonia is home to 23.32 percent of them and generates 43.05 percent of revenue, followed by Madrid with 32.84 percent. If your customer is a Spanish biotech, most of the sector's revenue sits in these two regions.

Check what each report counts. AseBio separates these 1,119 biotech companies from the 4,465 companies with some biotech activity. Biocat's 2025 BioRegion of Catalonia Report lists 1,650 companies in Catalonia because it covers the entire life sciences and healthcare sector. Mix definitions and your market size will come out inflated.

![Bar chart of Spanish biotech revenue by region, with Catalonia at 43.05 percent, Madrid at 32.84, the Basque Country at 5.65, Andalusia at 4.8 and Galicia at 3.38.](https://www.crida.studio/recursos/assets/share-of-spanish-biotech-revenue-by-region.7d26a2365e12.svg)

Share of Spanish biotech revenue by region

| Region | Revenue |
| --- | --- |
| Catalonia | 43.0% |
| Madrid | 32.8% |
| Basque Country | 5.7% |
| Andalusia | 4.8% |
| Galicia | 3.4% |

Share of revenue of Spanish biotech companies in the five regions with the most weight, based on the company sample in the AseBio Report 2025, with 2024 data.

Source: [AseBio, AseBio Report 2025 (Spanish)](https://www.asebio.com/sites/default/files/2026-06/Informe%20AseBio%202025_red.pdf)


### Can I run the analysis without hiring a consultancy?

Yes, especially the first version. Public data is free, interviews can be run by someone from product or marketing with a script, and your distributors already work with you. An outside view helps you ask questions without defending the product and turn the conclusions into something the launch can use.

## A few large accounts and many small buyers

Revenue is highly concentrated. According to AseBio, large companies with more than 250 employees account for 58.7 percent of biotech revenue, and micro companies for just 1.9 percent. For production-scale equipment, the real market is a small number of accounts, worked one by one with sales and marketing in step.

For lab equipment it is the other way round. There are many startups, spin-offs and research groups, each with a small budget, and SEO, campaigns, distributors and demos tend to work better there. You can also see where they work, since 55.5 percent of biotech companies focus on human health and 32.6 percent on food.


### How many interviews do I need?

With ten or fifteen well chosen conversations you can usually see whether answers repeat. If everyone says something different, the segment is too broad or the problem is unclear, and you need to narrow it before going further. Mix roles and company sizes so you do not end up with a single point of view.

## Interviews with the people who buy and use the equipment

Public data tells you where the market is, and interviews tell you why people would buy. Talk to ten or fifteen people at potential customers, mixing process development, production, quality and procurement, because each values different things. A thirty-minute conversation with no sales pitch can tell you more than a long survey.

- What equipment they use today and what bothers them about it
- What scale and modality they work in now and what they expect next
- Who is involved in the purchase and how long it takes
- What GMP documentation they need before they can buy
- What would make them switch supplier


### Are paid market reports worth it?

They can help with global figures, but they are often expensive and too broad for a specific piece of equipment. Start with public reports from associations such as AseBio and Biocat and with your own data. If you later need a global figure for investors or management, buy only the report that answers it.

## A close look at competitors and what distributors say

Take apart the offer of three or four competitors. Look at their datasheets, volume ranges, materials, the documentation they promise, their service network and how they talk on their website. Check where they rank on Google for searches about your type of equipment. That shows you which gaps your product can fill.

Distributors are an often forgotten source. They know which deals they lose and why, which equipment customers ask for that they cannot offer, and what prices their market will bear. A call with each current distributor, using a short script, can be worth as much as several interviews.


### How do I use the analysis in launch marketing?

Interviews give you the words customers use to describe the problem, and those words go into headlines, the datasheet and campaigns. The modality and scale grid tells you which segments to target first, and the competitor review tells you which arguments your website needs to answer.

## How to size demand by modality and scale

Bring it all together in a simple grid. Rows are the modalities your equipment can serve. Columns are the scales. In each cell, put the number of accounts you know, what interviews told you and what distributors think. The fullest cells are your initial market.

Finish with a one-page summary that says whether the equipment makes sense, for whom, with what core message and through which channels. That document is the basis for the launch, from the datasheet to the website and campaigns, and it stops each department from describing the equipment its own way.

## References

- [AseBio, AseBio Report 2025 (Spanish)](https://www.asebio.com/sites/default/files/2026-06/Informe%20AseBio%202025_red.pdf)
- [Biocat, 2025 BioRegion of Catalonia Report](https://www.biocat.cat/en/publications/bioregion-catalonia-report)

## The crida perspective

We are a marketing, brand and technology studio based in Girona. We bring identity, content and development together so a digital experience makes sense from beginning to end.

crida studio, Caldes de Malavella (Girona, Spain). David Monje, founder and director.

## Want to test your new equipment against the market?

Tell us what equipment you are developing and which customer you have in mind. We will help you organise the data, prepare the interviews and turn it all into a launch plan.

[Let's talk](https://www.crida.studio/en/#contact)

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