UK watch business breaks into US with a hand from TikTok

British-based watch brand Hagley West is making inroads into the vital US market thanks to significantly increased exposure on TikTok.

Owner, entrepreneur and TikTok influencer, Tim Hayden, has had two recent trips stateside, where he travelled to different states, hosting a number of live streams, to his nearly one million followers. A third trip is also planned for the end of this month, due to the success of the previous visits.

During his visits Hayden runs his now legendary ‘Find Tim’ live stream challenges to give social media fans a chance to locate him and potentially win a free watch. As a direct result of the visits, the brand has already seen more than 796 US sales and many more enquiries.

The first visit to the US alone delivered more than 300 new US customers and another 40,000 new US social media followers. This spurred Hayden on to want to visit again and also look at different sectors.

“Our famous strapline is ‘love your journey’ and there is nothing more exciting than breaking into new markets”, explained Tim Hayden. “We’re obviously really proud of our British heritage and we’ll never lose that, but there’s already so much interest in the US and we’re only really just getting started.”

Hagley West is a UK small business success story set against a really difficult current economic landscape. The business is less than five years old and run primarily from Hayden’s Hertfordshire home, with his kitchen doubling as his office. Nevertheless, each year has seen a significant increase in profits and social media following.

Hayden continued, “Times are difficult for a lot of people at the moment and if we can be a source of inspiration for other small businesses on their own journey, I take a lot of personal pride in that.

“This US agenda is just one of a number of really interesting initiatives we are currently undertaking on our growth journey. There are so many places we are keen to take the brand, but that’s not to say we’re forgetting our UK audience.”

Hagley West is currently gearing up for its big Black Friday event, with exciting discounts and opportunities set to be announced in the coming weeks. Hayden is also collaborating with other influencers and supporting charity initiatives via his social presence.

For more information on Hagley West, visit www.hagleywest.com or follow founder, Tim Hayden on TikTok @timhayden6.