Little did we know when we established Hydraulics Online back in 2004, we would be shipping hydraulic parts and offering advice to customers around the entire globe. Yet, this is now exactly what we do – to 129 countries to be precise at the last count. Thanks to the hard work of our team, Hydraulics Online is now a truly global hydraulics business.
This achievement was recognised at the end of November when our local Chamber of Commerce in South Cheshire held its annual Business Awards. The awards received their highest ever number of entries, but despite this Hydraulics Online were recognised for an unprecedented three awards, including being announced winner of the International Trader of the Year 2017.
We are thrilled to be named International Trader of the Year in South Cheshire because it perfectly encapsulates our vision of being a business firmly rooted in its local community, yet one that serves a truly global hydraulics customer base.
Dr Kevin Gallimore is Senior Head of Department of Business Management at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU), the sponsors of the award. Kevin was a key member of the judging panel.
Announcing us as the category winners, he said: “We were particularly impressed by Hydraulics Online because of their global reach, their clear competitive positioning, their strong business model, and their plans to invest in technology to better understand their customers in a wide variety of markets around the world.”
We were also really excited to have been invited into MMU following our award win by his fellow judge and Associate Head of MMU’s Business Development department, Jie Liu. Jie asked us to talk to her students about Hydraulics Online’s global reach and success, our international market entry strategies and our use of the of the internet as a key part of our strategy.
The win has also brought us some attention from the Department of International Trade (DIT), and we are hoping to be able to share additional insights with other local businesses through the many wonderful local schemes that the DIT provides.
Veronica Dawson is our local International Trade Adviser, within the DIT’s North West International Trade Team. She shared her excitement of our award success, saying: “What impresses me most about Hydraulics Online is their passion. They understand that excellent customer services are crucial in exports as you are building that business relationship from a distance. If you have enthusiasm and passion and you combine that with excellent customer services – which Hydraulics Online do – you can succeed in exports. I’m very pleased to be working with them, as it is on small businesses like Hydraulics Online that exporting in the UK is based.”
We’re pleased to report that our global hydraulics trade continues to expand. Just in the last quarter, and in addition to returning business, we have served 34 new customers based in 24 different countries – across Europe, USA, Canada, Nigeria, South Africa, the Middle East, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Vietnam.
This continuing growth and reach is really exciting for us. Our customers come to us through our website and via personal recommendation, and the fact that they do so in such numbers is clear evidence that customers far and wide value what Hydraulics Online offers.
We are planning new communications and support strategies in 2018 to help serve our growing international customer base even more. Stay tuned to our blog and social media channels for all the latest news.
