{"id":14299,"date":"2024-07-09T06:30:02","date_gmt":"2024-07-09T06:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/?p=14299"},"modified":"2024-07-15T10:30:31","modified_gmt":"2024-07-15T10:30:31","slug":"edinburgh-natural-skincare-on-the-importance-of-the-right-china-market-partner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/edinburgh-natural-skincare-on-the-importance-of-the-right-china-market-partner\/","title":{"rendered":"Edinburgh Natural Skincare on the importance of the right China market partner"},"content":{"rendered":"

Founder of the Edinburgh Natural Skincare Company Tommy Crooks and Wei Fu, director of Commerical Cross, tell Tom Pattinson how a chance encounter at an Edinburgh Christmas market led to success in China<\/h2>\n

With only enough money to heat one room of his house in East Lothian, a shivering Tommy Crooks gathered up his hand-made soaps from his kitchen table and headed towards the Edinburgh Christmas market. That cold day in December 2010 would be the first step on a journey that today sees him run a seven-figure beauty brand called the Edinburgh Natural Skincare Company.<\/p>\n

Today, much of that revenue is derived from China thanks to a chance encounter with a customer, who is now Crooks\u2019 distributor and partner in the Mainland.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019d learned some Chinese from a cousin of mine, and when Wei and her husband walked up, I said \u2018nihao\u2019,\u201d Crooks explains. That led to a friendship, which eventually became a very profitable partnership.<\/p>\n

Before Crooks and Wei Fu went into business, Crooks was travelling the length and breadth of the country, selling his natural and organic skincare products at craft fairs and Christmas markets. The products \u2013 made with no additives, preservatives or even water \u2013 were a hit, and by 2014, he had his own small factory unit. \u201cIt was an old wreck of a place with a table in the middle, but we slowly built it up, and we got to the position of having a good distribution network,\u201d says Crooks.<\/p>\n

A happy customer who had picked up some products from Crooks at a market during the Edinburgh Festival in 2019 returned to their home in Japan and reached out to offer to distribute Edinburgh Natural Skincare products in Japan. Fast forward a few years, and today, they have nationwide distribution in Japan and can be found in the luxury department store Isetan. Crooks will be heading over to celebrate the launch of his product in the highly reputable store Hankyu Men\u2019s Tokyo. \u201cThey\u2019ve got a great business over there,\u201d he says. \u201cThey run it as their entity as the Edinburgh Natural Skincare Company Japan, and we work hand in hand.\u201d<\/p>\n