In the dynamic world of direct-to-consumer (DTC) ecommerce, brands frequently chase the allure of monolithic platforms and heavily centralized SaaS solutions. However, a quiet revolution is taking place among agile, mid-sized enterprises that prioritize operational independence, cost efficiency, and brand-specific customization over rigid, out-of-the-box ecosystems.
A prime example is grüum, the UK- and Netherlands-based personal care company. Processing up to 80,000 monthly orders with a lean internal team, grüum recently evaluated its technological infrastructure to determine whether its platform could sustainably support its long-term trajectory. After a rigorous four-month evaluation pitting incumbent solutions against enterprise heavyweights, the brand doubled down on its open-source roots.
This is the comprehensive look at grüum’s journey—from its modest beginnings in 2016 to processing millions of orders today—and the strategic, financial, and architectural reasons why WooCommerce remains the engine powering its sustainable business model.
1. Main Facts: The Anatomy of grüum’s Operation
Founded in January 2016 by colleagues Simon Leonard, Andy Shaw, Bethanie Sleigh, and George Lagonikas, grüum was born out of a shared desire to build a consumer brand centered on honesty, accessibility, and sustainability.
Initially launched in September 2016 with a modest catalog of roughly 10 products aimed at male skincare and shaving, the company has since undergone a massive transformation. Today, its catalog encompasses roughly 300 SKUs spanning skincare, haircare, bodycare, and shaving goods formulated for all ages and genders. Manufacturing takes place in-house in Stockport, United Kingdom, allowing the brand to maintain strict quality control and rapid product iteration. Among its vast offerings, a flagship bestseller stands out: a waterless shampoo bar that has sold millions of units globally.
Core Operational Metrics:
Monthly Volume: Up to 80,000 orders processed consistently.
Catalog Size: Approximately 300 active Stock Keeping Units (SKUs).
Subscription Share: Subscriptions account for 10% of total revenue.
Customer Retention: An impressive average subscriber tenure of 30 months.
Development Footprint: Just one full-time developer and a part-time QA tester.
2. Chronology: From Garage Concept to Enterprise-Scale E-Commerce
2016: The Genesis
Operating across the Netherlands and the UK, the four co-founders left their traditional corporate roles at the beginning of 2016 to pool their expertise. By September of that year, grüum officially entered the market. The early days were defined by traditional DTC challenges: establishing supply chains, carving out a niche in a crowded beauty market, and building a reliable digital storefront that could scale alongside early consumer demand.
2018–2022: Expansion and Evolution
As consumer preferences shifted toward eco-friendly, zero-waste alternatives, grüum expanded its product lines far beyond male grooming. The introduction of waterless formulations, natural ingredients, and minimal cardboard packaging struck a chord with eco-conscious buyers. To support this growth, the company brought its cosmetic scientists in-house, eliminating reliance on third-party contract manufacturers and accelerating the timeline from concept to shelf.
2023: The Architectural Crossroads
By 2023, grüum’s digital infrastructure was managing up to 80,000 orders every month—all maintained by a remarkably small technical team consisting of just one full-time developer. Recognizing that the brand was approaching a critical inflection point, leadership initiated a comprehensive four-month audit to evaluate whether WooCommerce was still the optimal home for the company’s future, or if migration to an alternative enterprise SaaS provider was necessary.
3. Supporting Data: The Economics of Platform Migration
The decision to stay on WooCommerce was not driven by sentimentality; it was a cold, calculated financial and operational assessment. grüum’s audit systematically evaluated the hidden costs, technical overhead, and structural limitations of competing market solutions.
The Magento (Adobe Commerce) Overhead
The first platform eliminated from contention was Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento). While Adobe Commerce is undeniably robust and built for massive enterprise operations with deep customization needs, it demands significant operational resources.
Co-founder Simon Leonard bluntly summarized the impracticality of the platform:
"We weren’t going to employ a team of 20 people running our website."
For grüum, the ongoing technical overhead, dedicated maintenance requirements, and performance management costs associated with Adobe Commerce made it economically unviable for a lean enterprise.
The Shopify Plus Percentage Tax
Shopify Plus presented an entirely different financial hurdle, particularly concerning subscription infrastructure. Subscriptions are a vital pillar of grüum’s business model, driving 10% of overall revenue. Because grüum boasts an exceptionally loyal customer base—with the average subscriber staying active for an impressive 30 months—subscription infrastructure costs directly impact profitability.
Platforms like Shopify Plus typically levy a percentage fee on subscription transactions. Leonard ran the financial projections and quickly identified a major scaling penalty:
"When you’re doing £1 million or £10 million through subscriptions, that soon adds up. You’re instantly shelling out £100,000 a year."
By contrast, utilizing WooCommerce Subscriptions via a predictable flat-fee model translated to massive structural savings at grüum’s volume. Paired with native payment processing via WooPayments, the brand optimized its transaction architecture without bleeding revenue to arbitrary percentage-based SaaS levies.
4. Official Responses and Leadership Insights
The leadership team at grüum has been remarkably transparent about why open-source infrastructure continues to outperform closed, proprietary alternatives.
Flexibility Over Forced Adaptation
One of grüum’s defining operational complexities lies in its product bundling and subscription mechanics. Customers can purchase single products, subscribe to recurring deliveries, or buy intricate bundles configured in unique ways.
Co-founder Bethanie Sleigh explains the complexity:
"We have lots of strange ways we set products up. Our product bundles manage the contents, the pricing, and stock management as a single configurable unit."
For instance, a buyer might purchase a bundled soap set, append additional standalone items to the same shipment, and set individual items on a recurring subscription cadence to maximize discounts. When evaluating Shopify Plus, leadership discovered the platform lacked the native flexibility to handle these complex relational structures.
Simon Leonard noted:
"We were going to have to change our business to fit into that business. With WooCommerce, we can make WooCommerce fit around our business and make it work for us. We don’t have to change our principles."
Empowering Non-Technical Teams
Because WooCommerce is built on an open-source WordPress foundation, grüum’s day-to-day digital merchandising does not require constant developer intervention. The content team utilizes Gutenberg for intuitive page building, Max Mega Menu for structural navigation, and Yoast for search engine optimization.
Bethanie Sleigh emphasizes the efficiency of this workflow:
"We don’t often need development assistance. Product listings, promotions, and seasonal updates can be managed seamlessly without pulling our developer away from core infrastructure projects."
According to grüum’s Chief Technology Officer, tasks that previously required an estimated year of development cycles on legacy systems could be conceptualized, executed, and deployed within a single month using WooCommerce’s modular ecosystem.
5. Implications: Data Ownership, Sovereignty, and the Future of DTC
Beyond immediate cost savings and structural flexibility, grüum’s choice to remain on WooCommerce highlights a critical, often overlooked risk in modern ecommerce: data sovereignty.
In an era where third-party SaaS platforms frequently gatekeeper customer data, dictate terms of service, and restrict direct access to purchase histories, grüum’s leadership viewed open-source architecture as a vital defensive asset.
Simon Leonard addressed this fundamental principle directly:
"The data is ours, which is quite different from other subscription platforms. It gives us control over our customers rather than giving them to a third party."
With a 30-month average subscriber retention window, grüum compiles invaluable first-party data regarding consumer preferences, seasonal buying habits, and personal care routines. Surrendering control of that proprietary customer relationship to a closed ecosystem introduces unmitigated operational risk. By retaining absolute ownership of their database through WooCommerce, grüum ensures that its long-term customer equity remains fully under its own roof.
Conclusion
As the direct-to-consumer landscape matures, the narrative that "bigger brands must graduate to enterprise SaaS" is increasingly being challenged. grüum proves that with an open-source foundation like WooCommerce, an agile team of visionaries can process tens of thousands of complex orders monthly, scale subscription revenue profitably, maintain strict environmental principles, and retain total sovereignty over their business data—all without bloating operational overhead.
