Smart Turnout, a cataloguer of regimental, military, and
collegiate clothing was founded by Philip Turner in 1999. The
range comprises jumpers, ties, socks, cufflinks, and watch straps
in traditional university and military colours. The appeal to US
customers, aside from the draws of a classic British style, is
that alongside a Royal Air Force argyle jumper and Rugby school
socks, US customers can find a Princeton scarf and a Harvard
watch-strap.
Although the business had received a trickle of orders from the
US since its inception, it wasn’t until 2007 that Turner decided
to launch a dollar website to directly service the US market. Two
years later, with a growing US business that now accounted for
almost a quarter of Smart Turnout’s total web sales, the
challenge was to further develop the American business and drive
more international sales through improved brand and product
presentation.
Smart Turnout mailed a revitalised catalogue in October 2009 that
took inspiration from the editorial spreads of GQ and
Esquire magazines. It retained creative agency Cogent,
with which it had been working since 2007, to work on the
catalogue and web branding. The website was relaunched in
November 2009 and trading figures in the first three months show
that sales in the US have increased by more than 200 percent over
the same period last year.
Smart Turnout ships all orders from the UK and has a UK-based
call centre to take out-of-hours calls from US customers.
“We are currently running at about 20 to 25 percent of web
sales from the US with the aim of achieving 50 percent [by next
year],” says Turner. But the US is not Smart Turnout’s only
international market. This year will see the company build on
other overseas opportunities including Korea, where Smart
Turnout’s merchandise is available via a leading local website
and Japan where, “we have just signed a licence agreement
for someone to sell Smart Turnout branded watches,” says
Turner. He adds that a Japanese website is on the cards, though a
timescale has not yet been formalised. For now, says Turner, the
main focus will be on maximising the opportunities of the new UK
and US websites.
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