Case studies
If you're considering your options for trading overseas then don't just take our word for it, take a look at some of the success stories below to find out more about the opportunities open to your business...
Beaumont Organic
Antler
European Tubes
If you'd like any advice or just a chat with a member of the International Trade team, you can either email us or give us a call on 0845 603 7053.
Beaumont Organic
Stockport company Beaumont Organic, which makes award winning ethical fashions, is enjoying popularity in Japan. Since visiting the country with help from UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), designer Hannah Beaumont's elegant, simple and environmentally friendly clothing is flying off the shelves - and gracing the covers of some of Japan's most prestigious fashion magazines including the Japanese issue of Elle.
Since entering the Japanese market last year Beaumont Organic has seen a 40% increase in sales - and Hannah is now working with UKTI to target new markets including Denmark and Sweden.
Hannah set up the business two years ago after graduating from Leeds University with a first class honours degree in textile marketing, followed by a stint as knitwear buyer for Monsoon in London.
After researching the difference between organic clothing and conventionally grown cotton, and their effects on our environment, Hannah began to explore the market for clothes which are beautiful but also environmentally friendly, and eventually decided to return to Manchester to set up her own business, launching her first range in the Spring / Summer of 2008.
The Beaumont Organic Collection is made with 100% organically grown cotton which is free from pesticides and insecticides, and last year won 'Best Textile Product' at The 2008 Natural and Organic Awards, the most prestigious event in the calendar for organic businesses.
The collections were immediately popular in the UK and Beaumont Organic were soon making plenty of contacts overseas as a result of visiting trade shows such as Pret a Porter in Paris.
One contact in particular at Pret a Porter suggested she get in touch with UK Trade & Investment for help in furthering her international ambitions. Hannah rang the UKTI helpline number and things took off from there.
Hannah explains, "I was not aware of all the help available, but I'm really glad I got in touch with UKTI. My International Trade Adviser, John Doyle, has been really helpful throughout and has certainly helped me to expand overseas much faster than I would have been able to do by myself."
John recommended that Hannah sign up for Passport to Export, UKTI's flagship programme for new and inexperienced exporters, which involved a two day training course and helped encouraged Hannah to look carefully at her business and come up with an export strategy.
As part of the Passport to Export programme, UKTI also provided funding to help Hannah travel to Japan and meet up with a contact she made as a result of winning the Natural and Organic Awards. That contact is now her official distributor in Japan, where turnover reached £30,000 in the first few months last season, matching UK sales.
Hannah says, "The Japanese do like collections from English designers, and also organic goods are a growing market over there, as they are here. They also like to buy things early, so I am working hard to get my collections for Spring / Summer 2010 to them as soon as possible."
Building on her success in Japan, Hannah is looking to expand her export business and has commissioned an Overseas Market Introduction Service (OMIS) report to identify the best opportunities and find agents in Denmark.
OMIS is a bespoke service, which puts businesses directly in touch with UKTI staff overseas in over 100 Embassies and Consulates worldwide. These staff can access the best country and sector specific information and introduce companies directly to buyers and distributors.
Hannah plans to travel to Copenhagen to meet UKTI staff at the embassy there and attend the Copenhagen International Fashion Fair (CIFF). She is also looking at broadening her range of stylish basics to include accessories such as shoes and handbags.
John Doyle, International Trade Adviser for UKTI North West, says,
"Beaumont Organic is a successful young company which is really going places. Hannah's collections have proved popular from the outset and she is a great ambassador for high quality, ethical British fashions.
"Since we have been working together Hannah has enjoyed considerable success in Japan and I am confident that with careful planning and the right research and advice she will be able to replicate that success in more and more markets, becoming a truly international fashion business.
"OMIS reports are a cost effective way to access the information a company needs in order to make a successful entry into a new market and select distribution partners, and we have experts in over 100 countries to help North West companies, with up to the minute advice and introductions. We would encourage other companies thinking of entering new markets to give us a call and see how we can help."
Call the International Trade team on 0845 603 7053.
Antler
Longstanding Bury firm Antler, a market leader in luxury luggage since the 1920s, has been packing for the States, with the recent opening of a brand new American office in Chicago.
It is the biggest move for the company since it relocated to Bury from the Midlands in 1962 - but happily the original Antler headquarters will remain in it's current home in an old mill just off Gigg Lane, where it has 3 floors of warehousing, a showroom and an outlet shop and employs over 500 staff.
Their products are already proving popular, with sales surpassing expectations and unusually for a UK company starting out in the USA, they have customers right across the country from California right up to the Canadian border.
The move came after Sales Manager Claire Willoughby approached UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) last year with a view to taking a more strategic approach to international trade.
She explains, "Antler has always had some export business but the approach was reactive rather than proactive. We had a very British attitude, and just dealt with orders as they came in rather than making a concerted effort to trade overseas, so I made contact with UK Trade & Investment in order to make the most of our overseas potential."
Claire and her International Trade Adviser Karen Holden quickly identified North America as a good market for their affordable but high quality luggage, and Antler commissioned an Overseas Market Introduction Service (OMIS) report to identify the best opportunities and find agents.
OMIS is a bespoke service, which puts businesses directly in touch with UKTI staff overseas in over 100 Embassies and Consulates worldwide. These staff can access the best country and sector specific information and introduce companies directly to buyers and distributors.
Lauren Stone, based in the British Embassy in New York, provided a comprehensive OMIS report and Claire travelled to America in March 2008 to exhibit at the Travel Goods show in San Diego. Lauren's team had arranged a mail-out announcing Antler's arrival and contacted key buyers with literature and catalogues prior to the show - and the response was amazing.
"People literally wanted to buy our samples off the stand," says Claire. "We had great feedback, and thanks to the OMIS report we had lots of contacts. I spent time after the show visiting America, speaking to retailers and looking at prices and positioning, and we employed a Sales Manager for the United States, Andrew Hamilton, who flew out in October to set up our office in Chicago and look at suppliers."
Antler now has 5 agents in the USA, as well as 7,500 of warehousing in Chicago, and has recently begun to recruit American staff. The company began sending out stock in March this year and already has 20 customers, who can't get enough of their lightweight luggage.
Claire adds, "Although the brand was unknown in America, it is selling well already - we spent a lot of time researching prices and positioning and we are thrilled with the sales figures so far.
"We are distributing through respected, independent retailers who can help build the brand rather than large chains who would insist on huge discounts. We intend to stay in the market for the long term, and to sell our ranges on their features and benefits."
Andrew Hamilton adds, "Despite launching in a difficult economic climate, we wanted the brand to stay quite exclusive, and the strategy has paid off.
"Over 70% of initial customers have already re-ordered, and we are confident that the Antler brands will become as well known and well respected in the USA as they are in the UK.
"We also commissioned an additional OMIS for Canada to garner some detailed market information, and this really helped us when we began negotiating with distributors. We started trading there at the end of last year and have already taken our second tranche of orders, so we are delighted.
Spurred on by its American success, Antler has since commissioned OMIS reports - for Spain and Japan. Currently overseas trade accounts for 10% of the business, but Claire hopes to see it increase and gradually surpass UK turnover in future. She says,
"Antler currently has a dominant market share in the UK, so in order to continue to grow in the long term, it makes sense to explore export markets properly. The OMIS reports have been very impressive, the quality of information, and the speed and cost of the service are brilliant, so we will continue to work with UTKI in the future."
International Trade Adviser Karen Holden adds,
"Antler have really turned around their export business since we began working together. They have an extremely well-established product range in the UK, and developing a robust international trade strategy is now helping them to continue expanding despite the economic climate.
"OMIS reports are a cost effective way to access the information a company needs in order to make a successful entry into a new market and select distribution partners, and we have experts in over 100 countries to help you with up to the minute advice and introductions. We would encourage other companies thinking of entering new markets to give us a call and see how we can help."
Call the International Trade team on 0845 603 7053.
European Tubes
A Wigan steel tubing company has seen a 26 fold increase in its overseas sales in just one year thanks to a website makeover on the advice of UK Trade and Investment (UKTI).
European Tubes spent £3,000 internationalising its website, with half that cost met by UKTI, and saw export turnover balloon to £600,000 - all of it new business.
The firm is the largest independent steel tube stockholder in the UK and its products are used to make a variety of machines, from newspaper printing presses to kit cars. Its 5,000 sq metre warehouse on the Pagefield Industrial Estate contains more than 2,500 tonnes of carbon steel seamless tubing sourced wholesale from manufacturers across the globe.
But the company is now selling that stock back to the world. It has clients as far away as South Korea and New Zealand taking advantage of its range of tubing and willingness to meet even small orders without an extra charge.
Back in 2005 the company received just one overseas job worth £900, in 2006 its export turnover had risen to £2,000, and in 2007 it saw that figure rise to £23,000. It was this steady increase that encouraged the company to sign up for Passport to Export, UKTI's flagship programme for new and inexperienced exporters.
Andrew Fielding, the firm's Export Sales Manager, said: "Our company is a bit different to those we thought UKTI might usually see, in that we don't have a product of our own because we are stockholders.
"But the course was useful, it gave us a reminder to respond to enquiries straight away and provide quotes for everything that comes in from overseas - even following up enquiries with phone calls and emails to see how our prices look to the client.
"And rather than target a specific market, UKTI advised us to make our website more professional. So it is now available in German, French, Spanish and English, plus we can update it ourselves as and when we require it."
The updated website prominently carries the European Flag, already part of the company's logo, and went live in September last year. In that time it has had 7,300 hits from 98 countries, received enquiries from 38 nations and orders from 11.
Andrew said: "The biggest order we had last year was worth £497,000 and it came through an agent in the US which then sold the tubing in South Korea. This is a job that will repeat every two years and so we feel we are in with a good chance of winning those repeat orders.
"2009 has been a slower year. We have had £65,000 worth of orders but they are all from four different countries - countries which we haven't dealt with before, which shows we are still being discovered. We also get international enquiries every other day."
European Tubes has followed up its Passport to Export success with other UKTI sales courses and free seminars on selling to central Europe, Andrew said: "In our business we would have been trading internationally with or without UKTI's input, but I don't think we would have been anywhere near as successful without its help - it all would have been more ad hoc."
Malcolm Arnold, International Trade Adviser for UKTI North West, said: "Less than a year after completing Passport to Export, European Tubes has seen extraordinary success in overseas sales.
"The company works so hard and fast I'm not sure even they realised just how successful their rejuvenated export plan had become until we sat down together and worked out exactly how much business had come in from overseas.
"Andrew's experience shows very clearly that a company doesn't need to be a manufacturer of goods to benefit from export advice, UKTI can assist in a variety of sectors."
Call the International Trade team on 0845 603 7053.
