Bulk Interview | Increase Claims Success by 4x
Is it worth claiming compensation for lost or damaged shipments?
According to Bulk, one of the world's fastest-growing active nutrition brands, "it's well worth it" if you can automate the claims process. From protein powder to multivitamins tablets, Bulk ships over 10 million products per year, but found that claiming for lost or damaged shipments manually often cost more in man-hours than the compensation recouped - until they discovered Claimit.
After partnering with Claimit, Bulk automated its claims processes and improved its claims success rate by 4x. We interviewed Bulk's Logistics Director, John Beazley, about the difference Claimit has made.
Hi John - Can you tell us a little more about Bulk's incredible rise?
Sure. Like many e-commerce companies, Bulk had humble beginnings. Founded in 2006, Bulk's co-founders initially sold nutrition powders out of a spare bedroom to athletes and people with healthy lifestyles. Fast forward 20 years, Bulk is now one of the world's largest and fastest-growing nutrition brands, delivering over 10 million products per year across the UK and EU to all types of people - not just fitness fans. We also make over 80% of our own products to ensure the highest-quality.
How important are e-commerce shipments to your business?
They're essential. We sell most of our products online and our product range is huge. There's everything from sports nutrition supplements, organic foods and nut butters to protein powder, gym clothing and training accessories.
These products also vary in size (and therefore frequency of reordering). Some customers buy 5kg packs of whey protein, others buy multi bags of protein bars. Some prefer 60-tablet tubs of vitamins, others 270-tablet tubs of mineral gummies. We also sell wholesale to nutrition stores, gyms and sports centres.
What was the impact of delivery issues on your business?
Although it's rarely our fault if there are delivery issues, losses, damages and delays still paint us in a negative light in the eyes of our customers and impact customer retention. With the current wellness and healthy lifestyle trend, nutrition has become a highly competitive space for all demographics. If our products don't turn up or arrive damaged - which for our edible products often renders them unusable - our customers might turn elsewhere.
What's more, we have lots of repeat customers that order online as part of their training schedule or daily routine. We also offer next day delivery as part of our Bulk Boost subscription, so it's really important that we get deliveries to them on time. Even having delivery issues for 1% of shipments quickly adds up.
Did you make claims for lost or damaged shipments before Claimit?
We tried, but it took ages and we weren't always successful. Our logistics team would spend hours manually processing claims. Although we now mainly use Evri, we've also used other couriers in the past, so understanding each couriers' compensation Ts & Cs was a major problem. Making a claim for a ripped bag of protein powder is not the same as claiming for a training vest that doesn't turn up.
As a result, we only got compensation about 16% of the time. Given we ship many lower value products (under £50), it often wasn't worth the hassle.
What's the difference with Claimit?
Honestly, we now don't even need to think about claims - Claimit makes it that simple.
I'm responsible for all logistics, fulfillment and last mile delivery, so delivery issues fall under my team's remit. Since Claimit, I'd say our team has reduced the time spent on claims processing by 80%. We can now directly raise a claim from a support ticket and even sort out delivery issues before they reach the customers.
The Claimit system also knows exactly what documentation is needed for each product type and courier, so we don't have all the manual errors we were having before. Thanks to the automated processes, we've seen our claims success rates grow by over 4x.
What has been the impact on your business?
From a personal perspective, Claimit has freed up the logistics departments to focus on warehousing, transport and fulfillment of millions of products, and enabled customer service to prioritise support tickets - instead of getting bogged down by claims.
But from a business perspective, the recouped costs has enabled Bulk to grow faster. By reinvesting the 'lost' revenue in new products and better customer service, it's helped us deliver world-class nutrition to even more people.
And finally. What's your advice for ecommerce companies suffering the same shipment problems?
You might not think it's worth claiming compensation, but if you sell in high volume, the costs quickly add up. If you can automate the whole process, then trust us, it's well worth it.
Improve your claims success rate with Claimit
By leveraging the power of AI in the claims process, Claimit minimises errors and improves success rates. So far in 2025, we've seen a 90%+ success rate. Book a demo to find out more.
