Brompton Bikes' 'go, go, go' overseas expansion strategy
Fast becoming one of Britain’s great exporting success stories, the tale of how the west London folding bike-maker Brompton went global is down, it seems, to serendipity. Its first export market was built by the passion of people who bought the bike when they lived in London, according to CEO Will Butler-Adams, and then took it – along with the lifestyle – home with them. That’s how the firm’s first overseas business began in places like Holland and Germany.
When Butler-Adams took over Brompton in 2008 it was making 6,000 bikes a year. He said they would get that to 25,000. “It was clear we couldn’t do that in the UK alone,” he says. “We knew enough from the experience that we had in the Netherlands and Germany that this bike that Andrew [Richie] had created was relevant to different cities. It wasn’t just a London thing.”