Gift Focus - Jul/Aug 2018 (Issue 108)

and some of those companies are quite big! Effectively, our now distributor is the equivalent of one of our sales areas in the UK. A sobering thought, and one that closed the fantasy down for good. The other huge factor is that things that look good and sell in England don’t necessarily work in the USA. Obviously, this works the other way around too. There are some things I see in America that I honestly think are dreadful, so it stands to reason that this would cut both ways. And we’re talking design and styling here. Take American Folk Art for instance. We simply don’t have that history, desire and love of it that they do. I wince when I see some things over there. So, we’re not only divided by a common language, but a design sense too. Clearly that doesn’t apply to everything or nothing would work or sell either side of the ‘pond’. But it’s a massive thing to take into consideration when you want to deal there. I repeat, not everything that is great here or there, will work in the opposite market. The humour is different there, and frankly in lots of countries, which is something that’s plagued me for many years. I once did a deal with a German company. They translated the cards in a German way, and someone read them back to me in English. They were dire. Truly awful I thought. So, I employed my own German person to translate them, and guess what? They flopped big time. The words and humour just didn’t work over there, and I rebuilt my assumptions and retreated. A lesson learned. Nowadays, I’m completely comfortable with the cultural differences of everywhere, and my philosophy is to design for my own market and hope that others like it. And, as someone that uses a distributor, whom I’m sure will openly admit to all the buying mistakes and assumptions that they’ve made too, I can honestly say just relax and take it on the chin. Some things you have may well work well there, but others won’t. We all want to take over the world and be number one everywhere, but we can’t. While the UK is still seen as the most creative hub for cards in the world, the most important thing is just to keep designing fresh looks and something will stick. After showing my cards to no avail in a number of foreign exhibitions, I decided that the best thing was to just relax, design, and let the professional distributors find us, which they did. After all, their businesses rely on fresh new design, and they know their market, so why would I assume any better. Yes, I can advise on how something is doing for us, but they know what they can sell, and it’s their job to walk the shows and see everything for their business. So what about dealing directly? A great idea in theory. Well we looked at it and it’s not so clear cut. American businesses, stores in this case, understandably want to deal with a company that has an American office, phone number, and warehouse. I recently chatted to a small UK company that had the idea of setting up to deal there. Quite rightly, they could have a phone number that’s American and forward it to their place in England, until I pointed out that the time difference would mean them getting phone calls in the early hours of the morning. They weren’t as keen on that idea. And yes, you could set up an office and distribution out there, but when you really break down your figures from hope to reality, and factor in your time, travel, exhibitions too, is it really worth it? You could do all these things. Research it well, after of course you’ve tested your product to make sure it sells over there. Factor in your flights, which could be every month easily (good for air miles and upgrades at least!), your time, and most importantly your time spent away from your home market. Are you going to take your eye off the ball here? Exhibitions are frequent there, and regional, and as we all know, this is a big country so regional could easily be an internal flight away. And you’ll have to attend, at least while you’re building your business there, which could take a long time. You’ve got to sleep somewhere, make phone calls, employ someone to pick up the phone, have some sort of office, a warehouse (or fulfilment company) to store, pack and deliver your goods, and see customers here and there. No worse than building a business here, but a very big country to deal in, with the small matter of a large ocean in the way. Everything is possible, so don’t let me put you off, but if you take nothing at all from my experience, just make sure you have something that’s wanted there, and don’t leave it to assumption or your own optimism. It’s a big market, which makes for big opportunities if you have the time and determination. Good luck! For further information, visit DavidHicks.co do you want to launch your brand and sell in America? 136 giftfocus

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