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Company Description in the ‘List of Winners’ preceeding the section, for checking: Rarewaves.com Ltd Providing a technology platform to sell a vast range of products worldwide
INTERNATIONAL TRADE
Pragnell
Established in 1954 in a traditional Tudor property, PRAGNELL is a purveyor of rare natural gemstones handcrafted into jewellery, period and silver pieces, luxury watches and clocks. Its clientele ranges from African tribal leaders to Middle Eastern sheikhs, international entrepreneurs, world-famous celebrities and European royalty. In 2014, under the leadership of Managing Director Charlie Pragnell, the company implemented an international growth strategy. This consisted of 10 elements; investing in training for existing sta , taking on new multi-lingual
Right: Pragnell produces ne handcrafted British jewellery. Below: The Pragnell showroomwas established in 1954 in Stratford-upon- Avon.
employees (now covering 15 languages across the team), expanding the stock of rare gemstones and creating new product lines, introducing an exclusive annual client event, investing in marketing (including a website redesign with multi-lingual and video content), extended opening hours and implementing new payment systems. As a heritage brand in Stratford-upon-Avon, Pragnell has focused on emphasising its links with Shakespeare; an attractive draw for international customers. This has entailed securing the rights to develop Shakespeare-inspired pieces, including a unique Patek Philippe clock and a silver inkwell and quill sculpture, created to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s passing, and presented on behalf of the town to Prince Charles. This development strategy has resulted in outstanding year-on-year growth for the business.
Charlie Pragnell, MD and grandson of the company’s founder, said of the Queen’s Award: “This is a tremendous honour for us. We set out our ambitions to become an international brand in 2014, and with the help of a carefully designed international growth strategy, we’ve achieved some success. “Investment in our people and in new technology has been particularly e ective in helping us become a leading exporter of the nest handcrafted British jewellery. I’m very proud of our team and am excited for the next chapter in the Pragnell story.” PRAGNELL 5 & 6 Wood Street, Stratford-upon-Avon, CV37 6JA Tel: +44 (0)1789 267072 14 Mount Street, Mayfair, London, W1K 2RF Tel: +44 (0)20 74092845 • www.pragnell.co.uk
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Rarewaves.com Ltd
Online retailer RAREWAVES.COM LTD was born out of a way for founder Brad Aspess to sell some of his collection of over 100,000 vinyl records. Fast forward 13 years and Rarewaves now supplies more than 600,000 di erent products to millions of consumers in 175 di erent countries. Working with major global brands such as Amazon, eBay, Rakuten and Fnac, Rarewaves use technology to enable them to provide a vast range of products to hundreds of millions of potential customers. Music, DVD, books, video games, apparel, costumes, stationery, gadgets and gifts make up the ever-growing product range. Growth has come from increasing this selection as well as growing the number of marketplaces through which they are o ered for sale.
Rarewaves has seen annual revenues grow to £20m, of which international sales have grown 120% over the past three years. Their multi-lingual team, based in Chiswick, west London, includes members from 15 di erent countries to provide local language support. Following the success of Rarewaves in the UK, Rarewaves-USA, a separate LLC based in Florida, was opened. The US operation deploys the same business model and systems as the UK operation, but sources products locally within the United States. It has also seen signi cant growth with revenues exceeding USD15m in seven years. Commenting on receiving the Queen’s Award, Rarewaves chairman, Brad Aspess, said:
Online retail of Entertainment based products, Music, DVD, Video Games, Books, Gifts, Toys, Gadgets
“Winning any award is fantastic, but this one is something special. It gives the business, our wonderful team and the many stakeholders we work with the recognition they deserve. We never in our wildest dreams thought we would actually win, so we are obviously delighted.” Business development director Rob Evans added: “It’s an unbelievable achievement and we are extremely proud. The whole team has worked tirelessly to get us to this point, and we see this as only the beginning of what this incredible company can achieve.” RAREWAVES.COM LTD The Light Box, 111 Power Road, Chiswick, London W4 5PY Tel:+44 (0)208 9631225 • enquiries@rarewaves.com • www.rarewavesgroup.com
Rarewaves founder Brad Aspess.
Queen’s Awards Magazine 2018
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