Communicating effectively with customers throughout Europe

Communicating effectively with

customers throughout

Europewww.lucylocket.com

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)

www.lucylocket.com

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.

www.lucylocket.com

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.

www.lucylocket.com

Our sales by Country

ROTW

3%

SP

22%

DE

4%

France

15%

GB

43%

IT

4%

ROE

9%

Germany

Spain

France

Great Britain

Italy

Rest of Europe

Rest of the World

www.lucylocket.com

Communicating with our

customers

www.lucylocket.com

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.

www.lucylocket.com

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 email that has been designed specifically for their market.

www.lucylocket.com

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.

www.lucylocket.com

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.

www.lucylocket.com

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.

www.lucylocket.com

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.

www.lucylocket.com

The Future• Implementing a new email 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.

www.lucylocket.com

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.

www.lucylocket.com