Two Wiltshire mums are bringing a good night’s sleep to parents across the world by exporting their award-winning bedguard – proving that a well-designed niche product can achieve success on the international stage.
Amanda Allerton and Venetia Fuller set up Corsham-based Dusky Moon in 2007 to sell Dream Tubes, an innovative bedguard that stops children from falling out of bed.The invention, born out of their own desperation for peaceful nights, uses inflatable bumpers inserted into a special fitted sheet.It has proved to be so successful it has won many awards from the nursery industry.
Today it exports to 44 countries with support from UK Trade & Investment (UKTI).The pair joined a UKTI Passport to Export programme in May 2009 when they were supported by international trade adviser Sue Tisdall.The Passport service helped assess the company’s readiness for international business and advised on an action plan to build its international trade capacity.
Further support came via UKTI’s Tradeshow Access programme which helped the firm to attend its first international trade fair in Cologne and provided matched funding support for business development.
Amanda said: “The past year has been tough – the cotton crisis and increased production costs have cut our margins – but we are breaking into new markets. We have just come back from a market visit to Dubai, we were in Russia recently and Las Vegas in October.“The support we’ve been given by UKTI and our mentor has been fantastic and instrumental in our success.
We have had advice on markets, help with developing exhibition materials and, crucially, sourcing and managing distributors.”Dusky Moon already supplies UK high street names such as John Lewis, Boots and Mothercare and will be in Tesco stores this month.The prospect of breaking into the US market means the company will have to increase its production operation and the owners are exploring ways to finance the growth.“If there are small companies out there looking to export they should really look into getting expert advice. We have learnt a lot and been well supported,” added Amanda.
To find out more about how to achieve success in overseas markets in our exporting feature in the March edition of Swindon Business News.
