Small companies sharing a big market

Nov 25 2009 by Andrew Mernin, The Journal

You don't have to be a mammoth corporation with a bottomless pit of capital to make it big overseas. Andrew Mernin finds out how a growing band of the region’s small businesses have become exporters on a shoestring budget.

A world-wide sensation

WHILE the market for men’s make-up in the UK is dogged by stigma, in other parts of the world it is much more socially acceptable, much to the delight of a small firm in County Durham.

Claire Mitchell runs men’s make-up company Aston Mitchell from her home in Bowes, near Barnard Castle, with her long-time friend Kate Jones.

Without any predetermined intention to sell overseas, in just a few years the firm has been a global sensation, selling to places as far flung as Brazil, Argentina and Japan - and even working with Barack Obama’s make-up artist.

Ms Mitchell, whose website was launched for just £750 - half of which was paid for by Business Link - said: "We didn’t plan to have any global suppliers or customers. We decided that the business we wanted to have had to be an emerging market, and had to be web-based.

"We went all over the place when we started sourcing make-up and selling has been quite easy but when we are buying, we are at the mercy of the exchange rate and have had to deal with the issue of freight costs."

"Having a website means no-one knows how big we are and we can also do customer service via text message. We’ve tried to make the website a one-stop shop for guys who can’t go down the pub and ask what colour make-up they should wear."

In its first month the company sold less to the UK than it did to Brazil and Argentina and now, 30% of its sales go overseas.

Page 4: Building trust with customers