Case Study

Q&A with Bodycare

Health and Beauty eCommerce

Business impact

On-time delivery at first attempt growing consistently, averaging at 99.2%

Ease of use and “second to none” advice with parcel shipping while transitioning into eCommerce

Confidence to grow online sales during Peak

Bodycare is a health and beauty eCommerce brand that was launched in 1970 on a market stall in Skelmersdale, Lancashire and have grown to 130 stores across the United Kingdom. For over 50 years, they’ve passionately been delivering quality brands, both big and small, to families at prices customers love.

Taking their growth to the next level, Bodycare recently introduced an incredibly simple online experience, making health and beauty shopping hassle-free. We chatted with Daniel Blackledge, Managing Director, Bodycare about what role eCommerce plays in their business operations and why they chose GFS as their delivery partner.

Tell us a bit about Bodycare’s product range

We offer more than 3,000 branded lines across health and beauty, cosmetics, fragrances and household essentials at affordable prices. Bodycare has a strong presence on the high street, and now through our website, we offer the same extensive choice of quality, branded products at affordable prices found in our stores, with the convenience of shopping on the go for a truly nationwide audience.

When it came to introducing online shopping, what was the biggest challenge?

The online format was entirely new to Bodycare. While we’d planned this transition, the scale of the task at hand was far bigger than we’d anticipated. Building the website, for example, was a complex task; considerations around the back end took thought and discussion to find the right solutions. One specific challenge was marrying our bespoke, internal system into the online offering, meaning there was work to be done on the integration.

What were some of your biggest pain areas/concerns with shipping?

With a product range across health and beauty, cosmetics, fragrances and household essentials, we stock products that are classed as aerosols and hazardous. This has meant we’ve faced restrictions with sending items to certain postcodes.

Keeping all your requirements in mind, what were your key considerations/criteria for shortlisting a shipping partner?

As we were starting our online offering from scratch, we were keen to keep things simple. Ease of use was our key consideration when shortlisting a shipping partner. GFS were recommended to us through a software supplier, and we use one of their carrier partners as our sole partner in an effort to simplify our process, avoiding multiple rates and partners to manage.

How were you convinced that GFS would be the right partner to manage shipping?

We’d heard about GFS through a word-of-mouth recommendation. During our initial meeting, they stood out from other partners as their knowledge was second-to-none. Being new to the eCommerce format, we had lots of questions and they were able to advise and offer ideas and solutions to us. Their experience and professionalism were evident. Most importantly, their confidence inspired confidence in us.

Where do you stand with Peak/contingency planning considering you’ve recently transitioned to online sales? Are you expecting to plan for Peak volumes around the sale season?

We’ve had a steady start to our online sales and this has allowed us to build our confidence and experience in this area, and yet we know we have more capacity to grow. Our Peak sales period last year was in the run-up to Christmas, specifically the first week in December. We planned for this Peak time and feel confident in what will soon be our second Christmas shopping period with our online offer.

What’s the road ahead for Bodycare?

Delivery wise, we’re launching next-day delivery. Our business focus is to grow brand awareness in the UK, specifically in areas where we haven’t had a high street presence. As we now have our online offer, we’re focusing on growing our customer base and sales in the UK.

“GFS has been incredibly helpful in establishing our online presence. They’ve proved to be a supportive sounding board with our enquiries and have been able to offer advice and solutions from their experience, as well as through their insight into the sector.”

“We’ve developed a great rapport with the team at GFS and have found them to be a real support to the Bodycare team.”