Twenty years after Boden’s initial foray overseas, revenues from its largest overseas market – the US – now represent more than half of total company revenues. This year the business is on track to turn over around £350m, as numbers inch up to their pre-Covid levels. More than 60% of revenue comes from outside the UK, with the UK now Boden’s second largest market, followed by Germany, France, Austria and Australia.

Already a household name in the UK, the Boden style was described by one journalist as “synonymous with middle-class good times: drinks at the yacht club on the Isle of Wight, Sunday lunch in Oxfordshire, Christmas parties in the side-return empires of Wandsworth”.

Despite – or perhaps due to – its Britishness, the volume of overseas visitors to the Boden website suggested that global expansion was an option worth pursuing. However, success in your home market is by no means a guarantee of exporting success, says ICAEW member Paul O’Leary, former CFO and COO and now a non-executive director at the retailer. “Somehow you’ve got to get confidence that overseas expansion is a viable proposition.” 

Know your market

O’Leary says local knowledge and market research are essential to gauging how your products stack up against comparable products in your target market, including whether your price points are acceptable. “In which markets are customers receptive to your products and prices, can engage in your proposition, be comfortable with your channel, and can you get your goods to your customers in a trustworthy and efficient manner?”

Talk to people who know that market, O’Leary urges. “We always worked with someone who knew the market inside out. The more reconnaissance you can do, the better. It's about building confidence.”

With ecommerce – and fashion, in particular – you've got to make sure that the customers are comfortable sending things back, because if they’re not, they won’t try it in the first place. “A badly fitting item might result in a return rate of around 60%, so your design teams have to be really focused on making sure that not only is it beautiful, but it is going to fit the customer.”

Focus on a single market then scale

A granular approach to overseas expansion will pay dividends, O’Leary says. “If you’ve got lots of resource – people and money – to do it, you could go globally, but my advice is to be very focused on a single market, have a go, and then analyse it forensically to make sure that you understand what’s worked and, as importantly, what hasn’t.” Once you know this, then you can focus on scaling it.

Ecommerce has opened the door for so many businesses to trade internationally, and it has the benefit of not requiring huge investments on a local presence in the form of shops. “You can do it very incrementally. The big challenge is how you grow brand awareness and drive increasing numbers of customers to your website.” 

When Boden was starting out in the US market in 2002/03, that involved mailing prospective clients with catalogues. “We begged, borrowed and rented all sorts of names to get hold of them. Nowadays you’d probably do it through social media and platforms like Instagram. Think about who you think your competitors are and try to target their customers with a decent campaign.”

Set an upper limit on marketing

The sky’s the limit when it comes to investment in advertising and marketing, so consider setting yourself an upper limit, O’Leary says. “Think about what’s appropriate to your business, cap it at a level that you can afford to lose if it doesn’t work and then see what it delivers. You then repeat the process constructively forever. Every season we review what’s worked and what hasn’t so we can improve.”

The logistical challenges of a global retail business are not to be sniffed at. Striking a balance between optimising stock in a central location and meeting customers’ desire for next-day delivery (requiring local warehousing) is tricky. O’Leary suggests trying hard to optimise the use of your stock by pooling it and offering it to all your markets. “It requires some very detailed and fantastic spreadsheets and models but I would always urge any accountant to think very hard about the optimal use of working capital, while meeting the needs of your customer.”

Future-proof your website

Arguably the most important thing is a great website and one that gives you future capability to expand into new markets easily and quickly. “Our focus has been to have a great website that’s easy to replicate in all these markets. It’s got to look amazing to the customer wherever they are and ultimately make them want to buy your product. We’ve been through a series of different front ends on our website to do that, and we’re in transition to another one now.” 

Problems occur when you don’t focus on your customer enough, O’Leary warns. “Listen to what they want, understand them, and then make sure that’s reflected in what you offer them next season. When you start assuming that you know your customer, and you don’t need to listen to them, that’s where it goes wrong.”

• Paul O’Leary is participating in an ICAEW webinar on Friday 15 November where he and fellow panellists from Amazon and from space company Orbex will share their experiences about exporting and the successes and pitfalls along the way. Find out more and book your place.