Communicating effectively with customers throughout Europe

Who We Are Based in Heckington, Lincolnshire and have been trading for 13 years. Design, import and wholesale children's fancy dress, bedroom accessories, craft accessories and bears. We wholesale direct to retail (No agents or distributors)

Our Customers We supply quality independent retailers and department stores throughout Europe. Over 50% of orders are dispatched to retailers outside of the UK. Our main markets are the UK, Spain, France, Germany and Italy.

Selling into Europe – The beginning There are 324 million people in the EU-15 who are outside of the UK. We attended our first trade fair in Germany in 2002 (€ just launched). 6 months later we went to Madrid and then Paris. As we expanded, the first dedicated overseas sales person was employed. 7 languages are now spoken at Lucy Locket.

Our sales by Country

Communicating with our customers

Trade Fairs We attend trade fairs around Europe. We take 20% of our orders at trade fairs. We have language speakers on every stand – in Germany we need as many languages as possible. All show mailshots are designed for particular shows based on the aims of the show.

Online Marketing January 2006 – launch of our retailers website –In our customers’ own language (English, Spanish, French, Italian or German) –Customers are set to either £, € or $. –Product information. –Outstanding invoice, back order and credit note information. –Facility to order. Retailers are sent a monthly that has been designed specifically for their market.

Offline Marketing Catalogue – As little text as possible but with a separate price list. A5 double sided leaflet goes in every order. We print 6 versions of this. Point of sale material – this is designed to be suitable for as many different markets as possible.

Cultural differences The celebrations that are widely celebrated and the way in which they are celebrated (e.g. Christmas, Carnival, St Nicholas, 3 Kings, Secular Celebration etc.) Colours / Styles that are popular. How addresses / phone numbers are written How we address our customers. Customers in some countries are more prone to taking a risk with large orders. Buying Groups.

Trading Terms Customers all receive our terms and conditions in their chosen language (English, French, German, Italian or Spanish) We invoice customers in either £’s, €’s or $’s. We have £, € and $ bank accounts to make it easier for our customers. Credit terms –Denmark = 14 days. –Benelux, Germany & UK = 30 days. –France & Spain = 60 days.

Other Points We try to make it as easy as possible for foreign customers to deal with us. They have direct dial numbers for the sales people who speak their language. Sales people who speak languages are not all out of the office at the same time. All translations except product names are done by translators. Orders are dispatched as rapidly as possible.

The Future Implementing a new system to cover existing and potential customers. All invoices and credit notes will be printed in the customers’ preferred language. We have started to attract retailers from Jordan and Dubai. We will continue to develop our retailers website which will be moving to real time within the next month. Our retailers will be able to track their deliveries through our website.

Conclusion Trade Fairs and language speakers helped us break into new markets. Communicating with customers in their language where possible is important. We believe that our retailers website will give us a good opportunity to expand. All material sent to customers / potentials should be tailored to their market.