Internet Fusion is a UK-based online retailer specialising in sports clothing and equipment. Founded by action sports enthusiasts Ian Bristow, Martin Brailsford, and Dominic Scott, the company supplies leading brands through its 14 specialist websites (which include
Blackleaf.com,
Webtogs.com, and
FitnessFootwear.com). Since its launch, Internet Fusion has built-up a significant footprint abroad and successfully grown its customer base in North America and Europe. We spoke to Founder Ian Bristow to learn a little more about their adventure into the international marketplace.
PayPal (PP): What is the greatest challenge you had in building up an international customer base and how did you overcome it?
Ian Bristow (IB): Expanding our international reach has brought a lot of challenges. Overseas pricing, postage and payments are just some of the difficulties that we’ve faced.
Meeting customers’ expectations is crucial, especially regarding delivery and import duties. We don’t want customers to receive an unexpected bill for duty and we don’t want to be caught out by unknown courier costs. For example, there can be a large difference in cost between shipping to a large city like Sydney and shipping to a rural area like Cobar because of “extended area surcharges”, which apply to less populated or accessible areas.
To help navigate this, each time we enter a new market we start with a familiar marketplace like eBay. These often have help and information on calculating the correct duty, and will also help out with the paperwork. Once a market has proven its potential, we then look to develop our own local website.
PP: Why did you start using PayPal?
IB: Another early challenge we faced was accepting payments in multiple currencies. To address this, we reached out to the team at PayPal, who have given us invaluable support as we’ve expanded into new markets. Today we are able to take payment in nine currencies, including Norwegian krone, Australian dollars and Swiss francs.
As of last year we also started using PayPal to process card payments, alongside the regular payment button on our websites.
PP: Has using PayPal helped you build an international business?
IB: Without a shadow of a doubt. It has allowed us to quickly establish ourselves in smaller markets by immediately accepting local currencies. For example, we can let shoppers easily switch between euros and, say, Norwegian krone, meaning they know the exact price and amount they will be paying.
Having the PayPal logo on the website has also been a huge help. It’s a well-known brand that attracts customers and it is used all over the world. Customers who know and use PayPal feel an extra layer of confidence which improves the online shopping experience. About 70 percent of Internet Fusion’s sales are now processed through PayPal, which gives you an idea of how valuable it has been for us.
The support we get from the team there is superb. They are always on the end of the phone if we have a problem and they deal with any issues very quickly.
PP: What have been your greatest successes as a business?
IB: Offering great customer service and a world-class range of products has always been very important to us. It’s not an easy thing to do whilst undertaking a major international expansion, but so far we’re very happy with how we have balanced the two. To give you an idea of this growth, a third of our revenue now comes from international markets. Last year we received orders from 90 countries! We’re extremely proud of this, but also feel that there is so much more to come. We’re planning on increasing our number of local language sites, with the Nordic countries being our next area of focus.