‘International Business’ winner talks international sale

Gripple Ltd, a member of the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce, won the prestigious award for ‘Achievement in International Business’ at last year’s Chamber Awards. The company agreed to talk to us about generating sales on an international scale.

Gripple was established in 1988 and is now the worldwide market leader in the manufacture and supply of innovative wire joining, suspending and tensioning devices.

There is no denying that this is a truly international business. In 2006 they had sales in a staggering 75 countries, with 81 per cent of all their sales being generated from outside the United Kingdom. At present, Gripple employs 180 staff operating in 10 countries, whilst at the business’ Sheffield base, they maintain more than 20 staff fluent in more than one language.

Gripple have defied conventional logic and built a successful internationally focused business delivering cost effective solutions for industrial and agricultural applications in what is conceived to be a commodity “widget” market.

Commenting on their international and export success Managing Director, Mark Edmonds, said:

“Gripple’s growth has been achieved by a combination of launching innovative new products, progressively investing in new markets and strengthening our specific positions in key overseas locations.

“The foundation of our international growth came from the establishment of sales offices in France to manage the continental European opportunity and in the USA to launch the Gripple Hangfast system, which we had successfully trialled in Europe beforehand.

“When making our investment decisions we took a long-term view of our business but maintained the much needed ability to be innovative.”