According to William Forshaw, founder of well-known luxury leather bags brand Maxwell–Scott, a crucial part of the company’s export strategy has been launching dedicated websites for its core markets.

Having been founded in London 15 years ago, the business is now run from York by Forshaw who launched the business in his early 20s having quit a high profile job in advertising.

“After working in London, I noticed a severe lack of quality when observing businessmen’s briefcases whilst on the tube and in the office.

“Inspired by my mother’s regular trips to Italy, I designed my very first Italian leather briefcase - the Paolo whilst working in the city.”

Maxwell–Scott’s collections, which include business, travel and leisure bags for men and women, fly the flag for UK design. They feature the brand’s signature full-grain leather which is naturally vegetable-tanned to create a unique patina which improves over time.

The company turned to e-commerce in 2007 with the launch of its first online store and now exports worldwide. To aid the company’s ambitious export plans, it launched a series of websites dedicated to each of its core markets. Over the last ten years, Maxwell-Scott has developed bespoke websites for customers in the UK, Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland, the US and Australia.

“We are now predominantly an e-commerce business so expanding the company worldwide has been vital to our success. Once you have the right contacts and a streamlined structure in place for your native country, it is easy to transfer this formula into other countries.

“Like everything in business, it’s all about developing relationships to secure the best deal. Once you have jumped this hurdle, everything else, in theory, should fall into place seamlessly.”

According to Forshaw, finding native-speaking professionals from around the world to manage the websites was one of the company’s biggest challenges.

“We have learned that it is vital to employ natives so that our international customers receive a localised and personal experience.

“As we offer such a high-quality product, we must ensure that our customer service is of the same quality, whether the customer is from London, Lisbon or Los Angeles. Native local knowledge is imperative to securing this standard.”

Maxwell-Scott is now planning to launch websites in China and South America.

Forshaw advises would-be exporters: “Gain contacts with industry professionals from the markets you are looking into and absorb as much information from them as possible. This will give you the insight and the knowledge necessary to ensure that your product or service is worthy of export.”