At last month’s Retail Without Borders, Pentagon CEO, Laurence Guy, announced the opening of three new global office in Japan, Thailand and Dubai as part of Pentagon’s ongoing commitment to offering a truly global solution for their clients.
The company already has established offices in the UK, Bulgaria and India to service international clients, but “we’ve realised that in order to offer a credible global solution we need local knowledge, and the only way to get this is to have physical offices in country”, said Laurence. These local entities will supplement Pentagon’s increasing ecommerce expertise, by providing local insights on global consumers and will act as extensions of the current managed serviced operations, which drive online success for their clients across international marketplaces.
Laurence commented, “it is an exciting time to be involved in ecommerce, to be involved in marketplaces and to be building a business that enables British brands to succeed globally”. He went on to discuss how the company is already a major player when it comes to helping retailers sell successfully online, adding “our Hemisphere technology is now powering stores for the largest British apparel retailer, the largest British sportswear retailer, the most successful branded manufacturer and the largest British vehicle parts retailer.”
Laurence moved to Thailand last summer to set-up operations in Asia, and officially opened the Thai office in February 2017. The company also opened their Indian offices, based in Delhi and Banglore, last September, and further extended marketplace knowledge by hiring Vidya Sigar Singh who previously worked at Indian marketplace Jabong, alongside two account managers from Indian ecommerce leader, Flipkart.
Pentagon’s new Managing Direct for the Middle East and Africa, Zornitsa Dobreva, will be moving out to Dubai in May to set-up and manage the company’s Middle Eastern activities and continue to develop strong relationships with key marketplace players in the region, including Noon, Mumzworld, Souq and MarkaVIP. When commenting on the move Laurence said, “we’re opening our own office in the Middle East in May, in order to develop these [marketplace] partnerships and act as a gateway to the emerging marketplaces of Africa”.
The Japanese market is brimming with potential, and is currently ranked as the fourth largest ecommerce market globally standing at US$120bn. Previously, Japan has been a very closed market to non-Japanese businesses looking to sell into the country, but through their relationship with Rakuten Ichiba and new Japanese business entity, which is due to be established in Q3 of this year, Pentagon can act as the merchant of record for British brands looking to enter the market.
When discussing the growing importance of marketplace for international expansion, Laurence commented, “marketplaces offer a faster lower risk route to market than building a standalone web presence in county”. He added, ‘as a group we are well positioned to provide a full turnkey solution for British brands as they compete globally.”
If you would like to find out more about the Pentagon solution, and how they can help you accelerate your global online growth, get in touch with a member of the team by emailing: hello@wearepentagon.com, calling: +44 020 8940 5392, or visiting: wearepentagon.com
#RetailWithoutBorders
