In the fast-evolving landscape of digital commerce, growing direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands face a perpetual dilemma: as order volumes soar and product catalogs diversify, should they migrate to restrictive enterprise ecosystems, or lean into open-source flexibility?
For British-Dutch personal care brand grüum, the answer came after a rigorous, four-month evaluation in 2023. Processing up to 80,000 orders a month with a lean technical team, the company looked closely at industry giants like Adobe Commerce (Magento) and Shopify Plus. Ultimately, they chose to stick with their roots, reaffirming their long-term commitment to WooCommerce.
This comprehensive case study examines how grüum balanced rapid international scaling, complex subscription models, and strict corporate sustainability principles without ever losing control of its digital architecture.
Main Facts: The Anatomy of grüum’s E-Commerce Operation
Launched in September 2016 by co-founders Simon Leonard, Andy Shaw, Bethanie Sleigh, and George Lagonikas, grüum has evolved from a boutique men’s shaving and skincare startup into an inclusive, multi-gender personal care brand. Operating out of Stockport, UK—where its entire product range is manufactured in-house—the company manages roughly 300 Stock Keeping Units (SKUs) spanning skincare, haircare, bodycare, and shaving accessories.
Key operational metrics defining grüum’s digital footprint include:
- Monthly Order Volume: Up to 80,000 orders processed globally.
- Subscription Economy: Subscriptions account for 10% of total revenue, boasting an impressive average subscriber retention span of 30 months.
- Lean Technical Footprint: The entire web operation is maintained by just one full-time developer and a part-time QA tester, supported by a small content management team.
- Core Technological Stack: Built natively on WordPress and WooCommerce, utilizing Gutenberg for page building, Max Mega Menu for navigation, Yoast for SEO, and WooPayments for transaction handling.
Chronology: From Garage Startup to Multi-Million-Unit Enterprise
Phase 1: Inception and the Minimalist Launch (2016)
In January 2016, four corporate colleagues—Simon Leonard, Andy Shaw, Bethanie Sleigh, and George Lagonikas—abandoned their traditional career paths to forge a new entrepreneurial path spanning the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Driven by a shared vision of simplified, honest personal care, they established grüum.
By September 2016, the team officially went live with a modest catalog of approximately 10 products centered strictly on male grooming and shaving. From day one, the foundational ethos prioritized sustainability: minimal cardboard packaging, waterless formulations, natural ingredients, and internal cosmetic science development to bypass opaque contract manufacturers.
Phase 2: Catalog Expansion and Scaling Pains (2017–2022)
Over the next six years, grüum discarded its men-only niche. The brand expanded aggressively into unisex haircare, skincare, and bodycare. Their flagship creation—an eco-friendly, waterless shampoo bar—went viral, eventually selling millions of units globally.
As inventory grew to around 300 SKUs and fulfillment needs skyrocketed, the brand’s digital infrastructure faced mounting stress. By 2023, the platform was handling up to 80,000 monthly transactions, pushing leadership to evaluate whether their foundational e-commerce setup could sustain their next growth phase.
Phase 3: The 2023 Infrastructure Audit (2023)
Faced with enterprise-level scaling requirements, grüum initiated a rigorous four-month internal review. They stress-tested alternative platforms—namely Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento) and Shopify Plus—to determine if a migration was necessary. The results of this audit reshaped the company’s technological roadmap, validating their decision to remain firmly anchored in the open-source WooCommerce ecosystem.
Supporting Data: Crunching the Numbers on E-Commerce Platforms
When scaling past tens of thousands of monthly orders, hidden costs emerge—not just in server maintenance, but in platform-imposed fees and structural limitations. grüum’s evaluation of enterprise competitors revealed critical financial and operational roadblocks.
The Adobe Commerce (Magento) Overhead
Magento was the first platform eliminated from contention. While Adobe Commerce offers deep customization suited for massive retail conglomerates, it demands vast operational resources.
"We weren’t going to employ a team of 20 people running our website," noted co-founder Simon Leonard.
For a company that relies on a streamlined staff, the economic overhead of maintaining dedicated backend engineers, security teams, and performance optimization specialists rendered Adobe Commerce completely unviable.
The Shopify Plus Subscription Penalty
For modern DTC brands, subscription revenue acts as a crucial baseline for predictable cash flow. At grüum, subscriptions represent a tenth of total revenue, amplified by an exceptional customer lifetime value driven by a 30-month average retention rate.
Platforms like Shopify Plus often charge a percentage-based fee on subscription transactions. Leonard highlighted the harsh reality of this model at scale:
"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 utilizing WooCommerce Subscriptions, which operates on a flat-fee pricing model, grüum realized massive financial savings. Furthermore, adopting native WooPayments streamlined checkout friction while preserving transactional transparency.
Agility and Time-to-Market
Beyond direct financial costs, development velocity proved paramount. grüum’s Chief Technology Officer estimated that complex structural projects requiring an entire year on legacy or locked-down platforms could be executed within a single month using WooCommerce. This dramatic acceleration drastically reduced time-to-market for seasonal campaigns and product rollouts.
Official Responses: What the Founders Say
The leadership team at grüum has been vocal about why maintaining digital sovereignty matters. Unlike hosted Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) environments that force merchants to adapt their business models to platform limitations, open-source architecture yields the inverse benefit.
"We were going to have to change our business to fit into that business," Simon Leonard explains regarding their assessment of Shopify Plus. "With WooCommerce, we can make WooCommerce fit around our business and make it work for us. We don’t have to change our principles."
This flexibility is essential for grüum’s unique product bundling strategy. Co-founder Bethanie Sleigh highlights the structural complexity of their inventory:
"We have lots of strange ways we set products up. Our bundles manage the contents, the pricing, and stock management as a single configurable unit."
Customers can assemble custom soap sets, attach add-on products dynamically, and layer individual subscriptions for maximum savings—all features that proved rigid or impossible to replicate natively on closed SaaS architectures without expensive, fragile workarounds.
Implications: Data Ownership and the Future of DTC
Beyond cost savings and architectural flexibility, grüum’s case study highlights a critical strategic asset in modern retail: data ownership.
As Leonard notes regarding the possibility of ever leaving WooCommerce: "I don’t think we will. 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."
In closed ecosystems, customer data is often siloed, restricting direct communication channels and increasing vulnerability to sudden policy shifts or rising ad acquisition costs. Because grüum owns its database outright, purchase histories, behavioral patterns, and preference metrics for subscribers who stay upwards of 30 months remain securely in-house.
Empowering Non-Technical Teams
Another profound implication of grüum’s architecture is internal efficiency. Because the WordPress and WooCommerce ecosystems provide mature, user-friendly tools—such as Gutenberg for intuitive visual editing, Max Mega Menu for clean navigation architecture, and Yoast for search engine optimization—the content team operates independently.
Product listings, promotional landing pages, and seasonal aesthetic overhauls happen without burning developer hours. Consequently, grüum’s lone full-time developer is free to focus strictly on revenue-driving user experience enhancements rather than routine site maintenance.
Conclusion
The success of grüum serves as a masterclass for scaling e-commerce brands. By refusing to compromise their sustainable manufacturing ethos, product bundling creativity, or data independence, they proved that open-source infrastructure can comfortably handle enterprise-level volumes (80,000+ monthly orders) without requiring bloated corporate overhead.
As digital commerce continues to mature, brands looking to protect their profit margins and operational autonomy would do well to study the grüum playbook: choose a platform that bends to your business, rather than bending your business to the platform.
