Toy maker set to hit £1m export mark after deals
ABIRMINGHAM company that makes colour-coded musical instruments for young learners has secured two major new export contracts to the USA and Australia.
The wins mean it is now set to hit £1 million worth of overseas orders.
Shades CP has developed a colour-coding method which it says enables children to learn a range of instruments such as guitar, ukulele, harmonica and violin.
It has seen a significant boost in overseas business after it secured new orders at the Nuremberg Toy Fair in January.
The company has now attracted attention from the global shopping channel QVC, which has taken delivery of 3,000 piano mats, which have 24 coloured touch-sensitive keys, eight instrument sounds, record and play back mode.
And Modern Brands, one of Australia’s biggest retail distributors, also has signed up to take the company’s top ten products, with a view to increasing orders over the next three years. The company is also about to complete its first order for piano mats for Aldi in Spain.
Chris Poole, managing director of the Moseley-based firm, said he only decided last year to step up exporting to boost the 1,000 units sold annually, despite being in business for five years already.
And from a turnover of about £100,000 two years ago, Shapes CP is now expected to hit £1 million within 12 months.
Mr Poole has been working with UK Trade & Investment in the West Midlands by participating in a programme for new exporters and received funding to attend the toy fair in Germany.
“The business has been bubbling along for about five years but I decided that the time was right to start selling in the UK and overseas more seriously,” Mr Poole said.
“If it wasn’t for the support of UKTI, I wouldn’t have gone to the Nuremburg Toy Fair, which has since led to a flurry of new orders in some potentially massive markets and the promise of new markets to approach.
“I’m sure that if I hadn’t have sought help, the business would either no longer exist or it would have taken us a very long time to achieve what we’ve done in the past few months.”
Mark Sankey, head of the international trade team in Birmingham for UKTI, added: “Shades CP is the perfect example of what can be achieved in terms of export success, even as a very small company. We are thrilled that our support so far has been a vital part in its overseas selling success and are looking forward to building on that to get its innovative products known across the world.”