EXPORT BUSINESS LEADS TO EXPANSION FOR MID WEST DISPLAYS

 
Export sales are on course to grow fourfold for a Shrewsbury company that started in a spare bedroom three years ago – with a little help from UK Trade & Investment.

Mid West Displays, of Knights Way, Battlefield Enterprise Park, designs, manufactures and supplies display equipment for windows and interiors of shops and offices. Its customers include exhibition companies, shop fitters, retailers and other commercial organisations.

The company was founded as a very small operation in 2004 by managing director Mark Newman, and has grown to compete with some of the most established names in the display industry. It employs seven people.

In spring 2006, Mid West Displays joined UK Trade & Investment’s Passport initiative - a flagship scheme that gives new exporters the training, planning and ongoing support they need to succeed overseas.

Through Passport, the company has benefited from a package of support, inclusive of: a free export health check, attending an export workshop, assistance in formulating an international trade strategy and matched funding to help implement this strategy, quality training and mentoring advice, access to the full range of UK Trade & Investment services and membership of the Midlands World Trade Forum, the regional export club.

Managing director Mark Newman said: “Increasingly, overseas customers were finding us through our website, so we decided to adopt a more proactive strategy to reach them with the help of UK Trade & Investment. This has enabled us to progress much faster than we would have done otherwise.

“In particular, the support available through Passport met half our costs of printing 2,000 copies of an unbranded brochure for potential distributors, which was crucial as it gave them the option of operating independently if they felt this would achieve better sales.

“This approach has proved extremely successful in Ireland, the USA and Scandinavia, securing us sales in excess of £20,000 over the past four months.

“We are on target to achieve £100,000 worth of export business over the next financial year.

“With help through Passport, we are also exploring opportunities in France, Germany and Spain. We have attended trade shows and are now looking at appointing distributors in these markets.”

Mid West Displays will be moving into new, larger premises this summer to cope with increasing demand, and plans to take on a member of staff dedicated to developing its export business.

International trade adviser Chris Armistead, based at Shropshire Chamber of Commerce, said: “Mid West Displays has shown a willingness to visit exhibitions abroad in order to gain first hand experience of local market conditions and to meet potential distributors.

“The company has then followed up by providing distributors with specially adapted promotional material and an international section of its website.

“This professional approach is now really beginning to pay off in terms of firm sales orders.”

For more information about how UK Trade & Investment can help your business expand into new markets abroad, contact the international trade team at Shropshire Chamber of Commerce on 0845 641 1518.

For more details about Mid West Displays, contact the company on 01743 465531, or visit the website www.midwestdisplays.co.uk