Eurosales tells their story

History

When a leading brand owner of cosmetics decided in 1993 to cease direct distribution in Ireland, their financial controller, Sean Conlon and sales director, John Meany O’Brien first commiserated with each other and then tried to figure out what they were going to do. They had worked closely together for 15 years and both had separately previously run a number of successful small businesses. In the depth of an economic recession, with a small seedling capital and a lot of determination, they set out to build a distribution business. They decided on the name Eurosales International.

From the very beginning, the two owners agreed that they would build their reputation on offering superior quality service and would focus on this element in every aspect of their relationships with suppliers, retailers and consumers.  In time they developed a Mission Statement built on that principle. It is the code they have lived to since, sometimes refusing distribution opportunities, where they could not meet the standards required. On occasions this has meant financial loss. As a testimony to their adherence to their code, they have gone on to win numerous industry awards.

Development and Expansion

From humble beginnings, over the following years they acquired a diverse range of products, representing international companies and brands. Gradually they increased their staff numbers and built a full service offering, including representation, marketing, sales, order picking, distribution & delivery and merchandising. With Sales managers and regionally based representatives they now cover the entire island of Ireland, North and South, supplying major supermarkets, department stores, pharmacy chains and independent traders.

In keeping with the growth in the business, they moved to a new modern facility in Ballymount with a warehouse capacity of 20,000 square feet. This modern IMB licensed and accredited warehouse is audited on an annual basis and is certified for organic distribution use, with full facilities and systems, including Electronic Data Inter-change (EDI).

The move to the new facility allowed a further expansion in the business by way of an additional significant component; the supply chain contract for a major international company, shipping beauty products on a daily basis to major retail outlets across Great Britain. The service included import, warehousing and order-picking. Building on that success, over a period of 10 years they have serviced the needs of American companies, supplying distribution to major international Retail Multiple Outlets, while providing 100% service levels against demanding and exacting time schedules.

The company continues to grow and almost on a weekly basis, potential suppliers send samples and sales material looking for representation and distribution of their products in Ireland. Eurosales is one of the few companies that offer “cradle to grave” services, taking total ownership of the supplier’s needs. However, they remain cautious of trying to be “all things to all men” and remain loyal to their Mission Statement.

They have just launched two new brands of cosmetics- KISS NY Professional & NOTE. These exciting new products will bring choice and innovation to the Irish market. Eurosales International will also launch their International E-COMMERCE platform in February 2017. There are plans in place to double the size of the business within four years.

Values

While still observing the principles of quality and service, they recognised that it is innovation and new thinking that must drive the business forward. Picking new products requires a rigorous protocol of evaluation before committing to add them “to the Stable”. The products must meet the quality and innovative criteria as well as being commercially sound for all market channels.

Key to growing the business has been the acquisition of core skills and competencies and they have sought to recruit talented people, adding to the Marketing, Sales, IT and Finance capacities. Securing the services of experienced non- executive directors allowed them to put in place over-arching board leadership and corporate governance structures. To guide the decision-making for the future, investments have been made in strategic planning and development and implementation of Standard Operating Procedures.

The Future

The company believes that opportunities exist to expand this business to companies within the EU and internationally, who wish to enter the European markets without the investment in costly infrastructure or administration, while gaining the advantage of a VAT exempt service. The ambition for the future is to offer a partnership service to companies, sharing the knowledge and expertise built up over the last ten years. Such partners could act with confidence in entry to the UK multiples where their logistics and supply-chain needs are met fully and professionally with 100% service levels. We invite any businesses requiring such a service to talk to us.

The Export Association membership is an opportunity to bring our services to new customers.