Playdale: Exporting ambition driving business growth

Tell us about your organisation

Playdale Playgrounds is the largest UK manufacturer of outdoor children’s playground equipment. Thanks to award-winning success, children around the world are having fun because of our South Cumbrian business. Playdale’s turnover is circa £11M; we have 85 employees and work with distributors in 50 countries. Playdale has won national awards - ‘UK Family Manufacturer’, ‘UK SME Exporter of the Year’ as well as being named the Department of International Trade Export Champions from 2014. I personally received an MBE for services to International Trade and Exports, and in 2018, I was named IoD North West ‘Global Director of the Year’.

How did you begin your exporting journey?

Ten years ago we predicted the UK market was going to struggle over the next decade and we need to react. By this point we were the second largest playground equipment manufacturer in the UK in what was a very red ocean of 60 competitors. After many strategy sessions on how to diversify, we decided our blue ocean strategy was to go global!

We quickly engaged with the Department of International Trade (UKTI as it was then) and enrolled on a training program. I attended the masterclasses and from there we developed an action plan. Over the last 10 years this has now grown to have in excess of 600 actions and are reviewed weekly by up to 20 staff in the organisation.

The annual plan involved doing desk research to highlight six countries each year we wanted to enter. In the early years we based this on market value, GDP and even how many children they had. This however was somewhat technical, and we learned quickly to look where the developed markets are by researching our competitors – why waste time to reinvent the methods of others that have been successful? We then spend up to a week in each market researching it, meeting architects, city councils, schools and even the competition; this step is vital, as you must without fail get eyes, ears and boots on the ground.

We have had an incredible journey along the way where I have visited over 60 countries. I have eaten some incredible and sometimes interesting food, I have even been rammed in a government car, sold sand (pits) to desert countries and made many friends and memories. Today we have a presence in 50 countries through 38 distributers spanning the globe and 50% of our manufactured product is going abroad. Exporting has grown the business in so many ways in a period when the UK market has contracted by c40%!

What’s next for Playdale?

Export is an opportunity for everyone; it has not only allowed us to grow, it has improved the product, our daily speed and customer service. All of this has combined to improve our margins, and by being worldly we are well and truly on the road to being world class.

With the above experience and our continued ambition, it was vital we prepared well for the end of the UK’s Transition period as 15% of our turnover is through exports to the EU. We are one of many small and medium-sized businesses from across the country who will need to be ready when the UK leaves the EU, as it will bring important changes to the way companies conduct business.

We have completed in excess of 100 actions at Board level, using checklists supplied by the CBI.

We believe we have left no stone unturned but, more importantly, we have created a culture of ‘expect the unexpected,’ which I believe creates a better state of readiness for other situations as well. The process has even helped us understand our stock and supply chain a lot better.

What advice would you give to other businesses looking to export?

Our top tips for other businesses to prepare include:

• Develop a ‘risk register’ to understand the key risks for your business, under the areas of taxation, supply chains and stock, Intellectual Property, contracts and cross border trade, operations and products; then develop plans to mitigate or tackle these risks
• Ensure you have an EORI (Economic Operators Registration) number; we have had an EORI number for 10 years, so can continue exporting to and importing from the EU after Brexit
• We now have registered for Transitional Simplified Procedures to make it easier to import from the EU
• Become an AEO (Authorised Economic Operator) approved business, which is a quality mark awarded to business trading internationally and awarded by HMRC in the UK
• We set up a VAT deferment account by providing a bond to our bank; this gives us a better cashflow with the additional VAT we will have to pay on imports
• Ensure your Intellectual Property is protected
• Place contingency sums in budgets to account for World Trade Organisation (WTO) tariffs on raw materials, and thoroughly research and engage with your supply chain to ensure you have the most at-risk stock items in adequate supply
• Ensure you have plenty of heat-treated pallets. If we leave the EU without a deal and are classed as a third country, we need to move all goods on heat treated pallets. I believe there are warehouses with piles of products but without the pallet they will go nowhere!

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