Scavenger hunt game's growth rockets in international markets

Based in Cornwall, Orange Spiral established in 2017 is the trading subsidiary of the Sensory Trust. The charity use nature and the outdoors to improve the health and wellbeing of people living with disability and health issues, their families and carers.

gofindit is Orange Spiral’s biggest selling product. It’s a scavenger hunt card game that aims to encourage children to use their senses to explore nature and the natural world. The company’s export journey started out as more of an accident than design, as many find they often do.

In 2016 the Sensory Trust , started selling gofindit overseas through its online shop. The sheer volume of sales meant it soon became apparent that there was significant interest from customers based in the US and Australian markets. Similarly both of these countries share the desire of trying to encourage young children to spend more time outside learning and playing.

Claire Francis, Commercial Development Manager said: 

“Aside from the economic growth, exporting has provided another positive outcome for us. By selling overseas we are also extending the international reach of the Sensory Trust, something that is crucial to its success.”

Through the Department for International Trade (DIT) and the Export for Growth programme, Orange Spiral were able to access free support from Business West’s in-house International Market Research team. The team helped Orange Spiral discover which markets around the world would be best suited to gofindit. This allowed them to take a more focused, strategic approach to the markets identified. After previously having success with an influencer, Orange Spiral were also keen to explore what else they could do in this area. The research team then also identified key audiences, influencers and publications for them to target in each specific market.

Claire spoke of the support that she’s received from Ben Leonard her International Trade Adviser: “Ben keeps in regular contact and is always happy for me to bounce ideas off him. He’s recently helped me to write an application for a funding grant. It’s been invaluable to be able to access the Business West network of expertise they’ve helped us with everything from digital marketing to advice on writing Incoterms.”

2017 was a key year for gofindit, sitting down with Ben and formulating a more structured approach led to the creation of meaningful growth goals and further success in the US market. In this period gofindit started shipping bulk supplies to Amazon US, this allowed them to join the Prime programme and therefore offer next day delivery. This skyrocketed the company’s growth in the US with international sales growing from just 10 units per a week to 400 in the space of eight months. 

Following the success of gofindit a follow up game to the original will be launching in the coming months. ‘gofindit too’ has been built as an extension to the original and can also be played as a stand-alone game. The idea was born when fans expressed a desire for more cards and also more ways to play. Testament to the success of the original product is that it will be launched simultaneously across all markets throughout the world.

International sales now equate to over 50% of all income from product sales, but with the support of Business West and DIT behind them Orange Spiral don’t plan on slowing down. They’re now looking to start work with Amazon Australia much in the same way they did with Amazon US this will them to fulfil more orders in a much timelier fashion.