Lighting retailer switched on for global expansion

A Leeds online lighting retailer is pushing ahead with global expansion after successfully targeting overseas markets including Germany, France, the USA, and Australia.

Founded in 2013, Dependable Trading specialises in a range of lighting products including LED, fluorescent and halogen bulbs.

The company began working with the Department for International Trade (DIT) in 2014 to devise an exporting strategy that involved targeting online marketplaces including Amazon and eBay.

Josh Herbert, Dependable Trading’s sales and marketing manager, says: “Trading got off to an excellent start in 2013 and 2014 so we decided to try our luck selling through Amazon France, but we hadn’t realised how straightforward it would be.

“We found Amazon really helpful and the results of this venture quickly began to exceed our expectations, which made us realise the potential of exporting.

“It was at this point that we started working with DIT to formulate an exporting strategy, which resulted in a presence on Chinese e-commerce website Alibaba. We soon found ourselves exporting all over the world.

“DIT has also provided us with outstanding advice about other potential e-commerce platforms like Newegg, in America, and Mercado Libre, in South America, among others.”

Dependable Trading has increased exports from five percent of its turnover in 2014 to more than 40% of its turnover today. The company sells around 50% of its exports to Germany, 25% to France and eight percent to the USA.

The remaining 17% of its exports are sold across Australia, New Zealand and other European countries.

Dependable Trading had sales of £2.5m last year and expects this figure to have risen to £3.3m by the end of the current tax year in April.

Herbert added that Dependable Trading has benefited greatly from the creation of its own summer intern programme where DIT assisted by reaching out to prospective interns.

He said: “While we were making good progress with our exporting, language barriers were proving to be a major challenge that was limiting our growth. DIT has existing relationships with top universities around the world and helped us find really good interns from France and Germany for our summer programme.

“Using native speakers has helped us to ensure our products are consistently marketed in the appropriate way.

“Our experience has shown that there’s an enormous amount to be gained from exporting – and I’d advise any e-commerce company that’s thinking about selling overseas to do the same.”

The company intends to consolidate its growth in existing European markets in 2018 while also increasing its presence in the USA, Australia and New Zealand.

Mark Robson, regional director for Yorkshire and the Humber at the Department for International Trade, said: “Successful e-commerce relies on having clear marketing goals and understanding the practical, technical and regulatory issues involved – and we’ve been delighted to assist Dependable Trading get firmly established in a host of new, fast-growth overseas markets.

“We know that trading overseas online can be daunting so we have 29 International Trade Advisers, including e-commerce specialists, based across Yorkshire and the Humber on hand to support UK companies at every stage of their growth.”