World First helps Just Keepers make the most of its growing online marketplace sales.

Sector: e-tailer specialising in goalkeeper equipment
Location: Hinckley, Leicestershire, UK
Website: www.just-keepers.com
Employees: Nine
Founded: 1999

So far the Euro 2016 football tournament has shown just how important the goalkeeper is to the game. This is where specialist e-tailer Just Keepers comes in. It sells goalie equipment all over the world using online marketplaces and sales of these items are expected to spike as football-mania once again engulfs Europe – and the world. With the help of World First, the company is on track to take advantage.

Many of Just Keepers sales come directly from its website. However, around 40% of sales are made through online marketplaces, including third-party seller platforms like Amazon, eBay and Tesco, as well as local marketplaces across the world including Cdiscount in France and Trade Me in New Zealand.

Sales from online marketplaces and sellers are on an upward trajectory, which has created increased global sales for e-tailers like Just Keepers. However, online marketplaces charge fees to transfer international revenues back into a bank account of an e-tailer’s  home country and to convert payments into the local currency. Foreign exchange rates from those online marketplaces may not be the most competitive.

Just Keepers chose World First to set up receiving accounts for it in the US, Europe and Canada to obtain payments and pay local suppliers.

Ian Milne, a director of Leicestershire-based Just Keepers, says it has seen a real benefit by using World First for its European and international transactions.

“World First simply offers a very competitive option for extracting our funds from companies such as Amazon or eBay. If turnover is high, we are able to increase our margins by using an intermediary for transactions. The higher our turnover the more we save. That sum is going to our bank account rather than to a retailer like Amazon.”

“The higher our turnover the more we save  … That sum is going to our bank account rather than to a retailer like Amazon.”

Director, founder and goalkeeper David Sutton came up with the idea for Just Keepers in the 90s because he couldn’t source specialised football products for himself. The business grew and developed from there, launching new products all the time.

It was a personal recommendation that initially led Ian to World First, he says: “I compared World First with its competitors and we decided to go with them because they offered a competitive exchange rate. We have a good relationship with our account handler Craig, and we also like the firm because its call centre is UK-based.”

All quotes reproduced with kind permission of Ian Milne, director at Just Keepers.