Net traffic soars after Trump tale

Daniel Ezzatvar

A FIRM which specialises in cranes, lifting gear and vacuum-handling equipment saw a huge surge in website traffic after a news story involving US presidential hopeful Donald Trump.

Inquiries to Chadderton-based GGR Group's website soared on the same day that a man, using suction cups, tried to scale the Trump Tower skyscraper in New York.

The climber was arrested by police after a two-hour stand off, with the incident making headlines across the globe.

As a result of people searching for suction cups on the internet, traffic to GGR's website soared from the usual 500 per day to 6,000 in one night.

GGR Group, based at Broadway Business Park, sells a range of suction cups on its website, and noticed the spike in traffic soon after the news broke.

Daniel Ezzatvar (pictured), the firm's marketing manager, said: "We've never seen anything quite like this before. Usually, traffic to our website follows a reasonably steady pattern, but to soar by 500 per cent in one day is unheard of.

"When I saw that the visitors were landing on a blog post titled 'Can you use suction cups to scale a skyscraper?', I immediately thought of the Trump Tower story but we didn't expect it to have such a positive impact on our business.

"The story regarding Trump Tower had a peaceful ending but there is a serious message here. We would always advise anyone using suction cups to ensure they have proper training and use the equipment for the purpose it was intended."

The firm was established in 1995 by brother and sister Graeme Riley and Gill Riley, who are chief executive and managing director respectively. This summer, it won a Queen's Award for Enterprise in the International Trade category.

* The autumn edition of Oldham Business Edge magazine, due out in September, has a feature about the GGR Group. The free magazine is published quarterly by the Chronicle. To subscribe, email your name, position and work address to: mariaw@oldham-chronicle.co.uk.