Sales soar at Docklands

EXCEL is proving to be a huge success for specialist fender company Compass Marine.
The company, one of the largest retailers in Europe, has found its sales soaring at the London Boat Show’s new venue.
The company always uses the event as a showcase for its new products and this year has been no exception with two new fenders being launched.
General manager of the family run business, Emilie Clarke, said: “Both have gone down superbly well with lots of interest.
“One is a new stem fender to protect the stem of a boat. The other is a fender for an inflatable boat which has had loads of interest and very good feedback.”
And she said sales overall are up around 40 per cent on last year, a factor she is putting down to the new venue.
She said: “It’s a very very good venue. There’s been a few teething problems but it does seem to be working very well. We love our new pitch. The way it’s laid out this year is really good. We’ve got a lot more frontage space which has worked very well for us.
“It’s absolutely excellent, we’ve got no complaints.”
Compass Marine has been attending the London Boat Show for about 10 years and finds it is the biggest and best showcase event available.
Emilie said: “Southampton is very good but London is better. We always use it to launch new products. It marks the start of the season with a big bang.”
The company has also had publicity in a number of more unusual ways recently.
These have all stemmed from Compass Marine’s website and have led to their fenders appearing in helicopter championships among other exciting events.
Partner in the business, Erica Mear, said: “It was a British team who used one of our fenders. They had to drop it into a canister from the helicopter. They won the European championships and will now go forward to the worlds due to their efforts in practicing with our buoy.
“The team is practicing for the championships at the moment.”
And she added: “Warner Brothers used one of our buoys in a James Bond film. They were filming from a helicopter and wanted to be able to see the buoy.
“And the BBC contacted us for some lane marker buoys in a programme about children in the water.
“It’s all a result of the website. They’re not customers we would normally target. We’re a marine business and target the marine business. It’s fantastic. We’re reaching people who we would not usually reach.
“It was a great feeling when the team won the European championships.”
Further information on Compass Marine can be found on its website: www.compassmarine.co.uk or contact 01803 835915.

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