FAMILY owned Shearer Candles has signed a distribution deal which will see its products sold in China for the first time.

The deal will see thousands of candles leave Shearer's factory in Govan, Glasgow, for Beijing.

From there they will be sold online and in independent retailers and shopping centres across China, opening up a massive new market for the Scottish business.

The company, which is run by husband and wife team Ian and Rosie Barnet, is partnering with Azoya International in the venture.

A representative of Azoya, a business-to-business and business-to-consumer company with offices in China and Hong Kong, was impressed with the quality of Shearer's products when he spotted them in a UK retail outlet.

However it was not until a year later that Shearer's sales director Jeremy Lane was contacted through the company's website with a view to a distribution tie up.

From that initial contact in May things have progressed steadily and the first shipment of 1000 candles has recently been sent out to test market demand.

Mr Lane said: "It is for [Azoya] to get some feel what customers will be looking for and price points. It is all brand new and nobody goes in big time at the beginning.

"Azoya are primarily interested in first-tier consumers who are more wealthy and have western lifestyle aspirations.

"These consumers are brand conscious and understand brands and Shearer Candles fits into that category."

Azoya is using a logistics partner which will allow shipping straight to consumers in China.

Mr Lane said: "Products can ship from a factory like ours straight to a consumer in China through the work of Azoya.

"This will eliminate a huge part of the costs [such as storage] and is a very novel model. The Chinese are pretty savvy online shoppers as much of what the more sophisticated shopper wants to buy is not available in China."

Mr Lane believes the Scottish provenance of the candles is likely to be well received in China.

He said: "We don't know yet what will be popular [in terms of scents]. I am told that Scottish is a very identifiable culture in China."

While Mr Lane would not be drawn on financial projections for exports into China he did admit it is a market with huge potential.

He said: "When you have a market with a billion people you don't need that many to make it work.

"If I want to sell 100,000 candles into China it is but a pin prick. I'm not saying we are going to do that overnight but we don't have to get that many people in terms of the [overall] Chinese population to buy our products to be selling a lot."

Shearer already has exports into Europe, North America, Japan and New Zealand while its domestic customers include the likes of John Lewis and Sainsbury's.

Mr Lane said: "Our company is doing £3m turnover and we are likely to do something like £300,000 in exports this year. It may not seem like a huge percentage but for us it is a huge part of our business. It is growing and we are putting a lot of effort into it."

Shearer was founded in Glasgow in 1897 by two chandlers from the Candleriggs area of Glasgow.

It was taken over by Ronald Barnet, Ian's father, in the early 1970s after he approached the then owners to make candles for his hotel, the Beacons.

Ian and Rosie became sole owners in 1986 and a third generation of Barnets is now working in the business.

Each of its two production lines can produce six tonnes of candles every 24 hours.