Thursday, December 12, 2024

US web retailer pumps EU distribution as gym community swells

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The opening means the Idaho-based firm can now offer UK customers next day delivery, 2-3 day delivery to EU customers and free delivery to orders over a certain amount.

It called the new Dunstable facility in Bedfordshire a “leap forward”​ in its international plans.

Previously the company served the EU through a third party warehouse in the Netherlands.

Andrew Ivers, the firm’s new senior EU marketing communications manager, said this had meant orders from the region were dealt with by the Dutch or US base and delivery of large orders could be split by about a week’s wait.

“The experience for customers was poor. We have an amazing site and do lots of things to ‘wow’ our customers like nice boxes, free samples, free magazines, free online content. But then we were letting them down with the UK service,”​ he told us.

The company was getting 1,500 orders a week from the UK, although Ivers was unable to give details of how this compared to the rest of Europe or globally.

A larger facility meant it had more room for stock. UK customers now had access to 6,000 products compared to 3,000 previously. The aim was to match the 13,500 available to US customers within 18 months.

Ivers said Australia and Canada would be likely picks for future distribution centres. However, production of its own brand products would remain in the US for now.

Dark & light: Inside the bodybuilding fitness community

Founded in 1999, the company’s site now provides 34,000 pages of free information on things like training programmes through videos and articles. It describes its online platform BodySpace as the fitness version of Facebook.

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