Overseas sales offer a touch of hope

Dec 3 2008 by Alistair Houghton, Liverpool Daily Post

Alistair Houghton meets MORAY BOYD, managing director of J2 Retail Systems

AS THE onslaught of economic doom and gloom shows no sign of abating, manufacturing bosses could be forgiven for donning their tin hats, crawling under tables and waiting for the panic to subside.

But Moray Boyd, managing director of Cheshire touch-screen computer supplier J2 Retail Systems, says companies need to take decisive action if they are to survive the credit crunch.

J2 is one of the leading suppliers of touch-screen computers to retailers and the hospitality industry in this country and overseas, but earlier this year Boyd and his management team saw that orders in the UK were falling as the credit crunch began to bite.

So J2, which last year enjoyed sales of £8.5m, acted swiftly to ramp up its overseas sales operation.

That approach is paying dividends today as the country sees sales start to rise in France, Scandinavia and farther afield.

Boyd, one of a four-strong team that acquired J2 in a 2002 management buyout, says the company is well-set to keep growing, even as its UK retail customers are feeling the pinch.

“We’ve seen the downturn in the economy probably since January,” said Boyd. “As a result of that, we’ve accelerated our efforts to distribute products in other parts of the world so we won’t be so reliant on the UK or US.

“Earlier this year, there was a change in buying patterns. We had previously done a lot of work to stimulate the business in the UK, and we have expanded the list of customers significantly, but we did notice that they just weren’t buying as much as they used to.

“Projects were getting delayed. Retailers were delaying decisions. That made our march into Europe and other parts of the world a little bit quicker.”

Boyd said the company’s new focus was already serving it well, and confidently predicted that more contract wins were imminent.

He said: “In France, they have a completely different way of doing business – it’s far more complex – so it’s taken a lot more effort but we’re seeing the fruits of our labours.

“We’re now rolling out to our first boulangerie in France, which could be a really lucrative market for us.

“There should be some significant announcements shortly about Scandinavian distributors.”