Wolverson Fitness
is leader of the pack thanks to powerlift from Brightpearl

Just like in the fashion and toy markets, the fitness world is dominated by trends.

Being able to hunt down the ‘next big thing’ before anyone else is one of the secrets to success for modern fitness retailers – and it’s something which Wolverson Fitness has proven to be a winner at ever since launching in 2009. 

The West Midlands, UK-based fitness equipment company specializes in designing and producing quality functional fitness equipment. It’s also the business behind the BISON brand of lifting equipment and the official distributor in the UK and Ireland for all Assault Fitness products. 

Powered by two Shopify websites, the business has swiftly secured a huge, loyal following of home-based fitness enthusiasts, independent gyms and personal trainers across the UK – splitting its sales 50/50 across consumer and commercial markets. 

Core strength from Brightpearl

However, rapid scaling and immense popularity always comes at a cost.

Without a robust operations system in place, the e-commerce brand was weighed down by time-consuming manual processes and fighting against day-to-day issues, including stock over-selling and platforms that didn’t communicate with each other. 

Then, in 2016, they joined the Brightpearl family – and embraced a built-for-retail operation system that added instant core strength to its operations. 

“We looked at traditional ERPs and other systems but they all seemed archaic in comparison to Brightpearl,” said Wolverson Fitness MD Jason McCarthy. 

“There were lots of individual platforms that didn’t talk to each other but we needed a composable tech stack that brought everything together – and Brightpearl was the only provider that could deliver.

“It ticked every box and became an instant central source of truth for us, boosting productivity by 300%. 

“Plus, implementation was smooth and speedy – it took four months and was arranged to coincide with our move to a new warehouse.”

Free to flex its e-commerce muscle

One of the biggest benefits of signing up to Brightpearl has been gaining access to the Automation Engine which saves the average customer two months every year – and in the case of Wolverson Fitness, saves a full time member of staff. 

Wolverson’s Sales Manager Jordan Hill said: “We previously employed someone full time to do the manual tasks associated with order fulfilment, such as printing labels and data entry. Now, Brightpearl automates the whole process – saving us a full-time hire plus around 40 hours a month. 

“The native, immediate integration with Shopify is also a huge plus. Brightpearl ‘talks’ to Shopify in real time, and has eradicated the human errors and overselling which had previously caused us issues. 

“Being able to set automation rules to meet our unique needs has also been invaluable when we have experienced spikes in sales – such as during the pandemic when gyms shut and lockdown kicked in. 

“Brightpearl allows us to easily create bundles, manage stock and quickly upscale when we need to.

“There’s no way we could have handled the challenges of the last couple of years without it.”

Cutting-edge features to grow on your own terms

Brightpearl’s market-leading real time analytics and insight have also proven to be game-changing for Wolverson Fitness. 

“Brightpearl’s features empower us to make better, data-driven decisions,” added Jason. 

“We can accurately forecast demand and see analytics at-a-glance, as well as in granular detail. 

“I love that I can be sitting on a beach, anywhere in the world, and I can login to my Brightpearl dashboard and instantly see real-time reports across our accounts and sales, so I can know whether anything needs my attention.”

On top of best-in-class features, such as the Automation Engine, Demand Planner and warehouse management, and Plug & Play integrations to a huge range of platforms including Shopify, Amazon and eBay, Brightpearl is backed up by next level customer service. 

Jason said: “One of the things I think Brightpearl should be really proud of is the way the team listens to feedback and quickly implements changes to improve things – it’s really impressive.”

And Jordan added: “The system is intuitive and easy to use. The training from Brightpearl is really high level – especially compared to other providers. I’d say it takes our new starters a couple of weeks to become totally fluent in using it.  

“We can add everyone on our team to Brightpearl at no additional cost – which is another reason Brightpearl stands out from the crowd.”

“Brightpearl has become the backbone of our business – we use it in ways that we don’t even think about.”

Wolverson Fitness is on a mission to help more people access quality fitness equipment at a sensible price – and Brightpearl is perfectly placed to help make it happen. 

“Our vision is to help gym owners and fitness fanatics everywhere achieve their health and fitness goals with the best equipment around,” said Jason.

“Brightpearl will help us every step of the way, scaling as we do.”