For the same company, revenue across different domains and different levels of intelligence can be completely different — How QYResearch reconciles this

In agricultural irrigation, a company's business boundaries are often more complex than its product names suggest. The same manufacturer may simultaneously offer conventional equipment, automated equipment, intelligent control systems, and supporting services. Even when names are similar, products may differ in technical configuration, functional positioning, and sales value. Estimating segment market size solely based on main business, product catalogs, or overall company revenue can easily conflate product tiers and distort judgments of market size and the competitive landscape.

Taking the drip irrigation industry as an example, identifying target-market revenue from a company's overall operating information and distinguishing between different products and intelligence levels is a typical challenge in market research. QYResearch reconstructs a company's business scale in the target market through business decomposition, product technology identification, revenue attribution judgment, and cross-validation of data.

Starting from overall company revenue to identify the true business boundaries of the target market

Publicly disclosed corporate financial information is usually organized by company as a whole, by business segment, or by broad product category, whereas segmented research requires more specific data. For companies operating multiple types of irrigation products, overall revenue cannot be directly equated with drip irrigation business revenue; even if drip irrigation is one of the main products, it does not mean that all related revenue comes from the target market.

Research must first sort out a company's product portfolio and business structure to clarify its actual mode of participation in the drip irrigation field.

The analysis should examine the company's official website product catalogs, technical materials, annual reports, business descriptions, and project cases to identify the types of products and services involved. For example, a company may simultaneously sell drip irrigation tubing, emitters, filtration and fertigation equipment, irrigation controllers, and complete solutions. Whether a product is included in the target market must be judged item by item according to product definitions, and cannot be classified solely based on the industry to which the company belongs.

For revenue that cannot be directly separated, it is also necessary to analyze product composition, operating model, and revenue contribution to establish an estimation basis. Only by decomposing financial information down to the product and business level can unrelated revenue be prevented from being included or relevant business be prevented from being omitted.

Drip irrigation products have expanded from basic water delivery equipment to systems with automatic control, data acquisition, remote management, and intelligent decision-making capabilities.

The drip irrigation product market is not homogeneous. With technological development, products have expanded from basic water delivery equipment to systems with automatic control, data acquisition, remote management, and intelligent decision-making capabilities.

Traditional drip irrigation business mainly comes from basic components such as drip irrigation tubing and emitters; automated products involve valve control, scheduled irrigation, and linked filtration and fertigation; systems at a higher intelligence level may integrate sensors, environmental data, control software, and intelligent decision-making functions.

These products serve similar agricultural scenarios, but their technical composition, pricing, and customer needs are not the same. Uniform classification may overestimate revenue from basic equipment or underestimate the scale of intelligent irrigation. Therefore, clear product classification and technology-tier standards need to be established, and company products then mapped to the corresponding categories.

Therefore, clear product classification and technology-tier standards need to be established, and company products then mapped to the corresponding categories. Judgment should focus on whether a product has independent control functions, whether it can operate automatically, whether it integrates data sensing and analysis capabilities, and whether intelligent functions come from standalone devices, supporting software, or complete solutions.

The degree of intelligence cannot be determined solely by product names or promotional language. Having remote operation functions does not mean that the system can autonomously optimize irrigation strategies based on real-time data. Only by combining product specifications, functional descriptions, and actual application cases can its technology tier be judged more accurately.

When companies do not separately disclose product revenue, how can an explainable estimation model be built?

Public financial materials often cannot meet the needs of segmented market research. A company may disclose total irrigation business revenue but not distinguish drip irrigation from other products; it may also provide rich product information but lack corresponding revenue and sales volume data. Faced with information gaps, one cannot simply allocate all business revenue, nor infer scale solely from the number of products; instead, tiered estimation and cross-validation should be carried out based on the completeness of evidence.

Faced with information gaps, one cannot simply allocate all business revenue, nor infer scale solely from the number of products; instead, tiered estimation and cross-validation should be carried out based on the completeness of evidence.

One can start from disclosed business revenue and split revenue by combining product portfolio, business structure, and the share of target products; one can also analyze a company's coverage, sales channels, typical customers, project applications, and market layout from the product side. When information is sufficient, sales volume and average selling price can be used to test the revenue estimate. System-integration companies also need to distinguish equipment, software, and supporting services to avoid double counting.

When information is sufficient, sales volume and average selling price can be used to test the revenue estimate. For system-integration companies, it is also necessary to distinguish equipment, software or control systems, and supporting services to avoid double counting.

Different estimation paths are used to validate conclusions, not to replace one another. If results obtained by different methods differ significantly, the business boundaries, product classification, revenue share, and price assumptions should be re-examined. When evidence is insufficient, a distinction should also be made between company-disclosed information, inferences based on public evidence, and analytical assumptions, to avoid presenting estimation results as official company data.

When evidence is insufficient, a distinction should be made between company-disclosed information, inferences based on public evidence, and analytical assumptions, to avoid presenting estimation results as official company data.

From product revenue breakdown to the competitive landscape, ensuring market shares are comparable

After completing the revenue breakdown, it is also necessary to judge whether data from different companies are comparable.

Some companies focus on basic components, some provide complete irrigation systems, and others operate control equipment and intelligent solutions. Directly comparing overall revenue may mistake differences in business scope for differences in competitiveness; comparing only products with similar names may also overlook differences in functions and technology tiers.

Competitive analysis needs to align company revenue with unified product definitions, segmentation dimensions, and application scope.

A larger overall company size does not mean that a company is necessarily dominant in a particular segmented product field; a company with smaller overall revenue may also be competitive at a specific technology tier or in a specific application scenario.

The core of customized research is to give every item of revenue a clear basis for attribution

In a market with complex product boundaries, insufficient corporate disclosure, and continuously evolving intelligence tiers, standard industry classifications and company revenue data can only provide a starting point for research.

Segmented revenue analysis helps companies identify the market position of product lines, judge opportunities for intelligence upgrading, and understand competitive differences; it also helps investors and industry chain participants identify a company's true market exposure and avoid equating overall operating performance with the growth potential of a segmented market.

What we focus on is not only how much revenue a company generates, but also where the revenue comes from, what products it corresponds to, which applications it serves, and what competitive position it occupies at different technology tiers. Only by going deep into the product and functional level can market size measurement be closer to the real business structure, and can competitive landscape judgments provide targeted reference for business decisions.

About the author

Zhang Chengping, Senior Industry Analyst, with deep experience in the chemical industry and focused on fields such as electronic materials, cutting-edge new materials, and energy storage technologies. He comprehensively leads the development of technology and market reports as well as customized projects. He has extensive experience in cross-industry market research and segmented field analysis. He has long tracked industrial chain changes in upstream raw material supply, midstream material preparation exploration, downstream applications, and end demand.

Representative research topics include: motor core progressive dies, PAA anode binder, lithium-ion battery wet separators, hydrogen fuel cell air compressors, 3D printing, UV printers, metal additive manufacturing materials, semiconductor optical systems, semiconductor active vibration isolation, mask substrates, BOPP capacitor films, and others.

Research topics cover applications in downstream fields such as basic chemical raw materials, cutting-edge electronic chemicals, energy materials and lithium batteries, and high-end manufacturing. He provides professional strategic support for the company's competitive positioning, market positioning, and strategic analysis.