Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
The British Home Enhancement Trade Association (BHETA) has formed a new committee to drive initiatives in support of export opportunities.
The export committee is chaired by Tony Grimshaw, director of What More UK. Other committee members are Geoff Gorst, business development director of Meyer Group; Jonathan Collier, managing director of Monument Tools; Joe Denham, ceo of VegTrug; Will Jones, housewares sector director of BHETA; and Nicola Adams-Brown, head of the member services team of BHETA.
The main aim of the committee is to encourage and support BHETA members to either start exporting, or to build their existing export business.
A specific initiative already actioned was the provision of a list of international housewares, tableware, and small domestic appliance buyers for special invitation to last month’s Exclusively Housewares and Exclusively Electrical. This resulted in retailers from as far afield as Australia, Poland, Latvia, the Czech Republic, and Hong Kong attending the co-located London trade shows, as well as buyers from across Europe.
The committee is now working with the DIT (Department for International Trade) and the International Chambers of Commerce to explore opportunities for overseas missions and international shows, and investigate supporting grant availability. It will host a BHETA Export Forum for members on October 11 in Birmingham.
Commenting on BHETA’s new emphasis on export, Will Jones said: “The market is very tough for many suppliers at the moment and BHETA has been encouraging members to explore various forms of diversification for some time.
“Given that the one upside of the fall in the pound’s value is improved conditions for export, finding and building relationships with overseas customers has to be a tremendous opportunity. The BHETA export committee aims to help members exploit this opportunity to the maximum.”
For more information about BHETA including the export committee, contact the member services team on 0121 237 1130.
