Founded | Employees | Sector | Customers |
Built on choice and reliability, Bliss Direct is the one‑stop supplier for salons across the UK & Ireland, carrying every major tanning brand under one roof.
Challenges
Manual, handwritten order capture and paper pick notes
Time‑consuming dispatch workflows and labelling
Seasonal spikes creating stock pressure
Legacy finance‑first processes limiting sales order efficiency
Why Orderwise
All-in-one system for sales orders and CRM
Forecasting tools to manage seasonal stock
Kitting & manufacturing to create bundles in minutes
Shopify trade portal and Cloud platform
ROI
25 hours saved per week at peak, processing up to 300 orders per day
Order volumes up 5% year on year since the pandemic
Forecasting efficiency saves 2+ hours per week on average
We’ve grown with Orderwise, piggybacking each other’s ideas, some of our requests are now staples of the system.
Mark Tillotson, Managing Director
Growing from a single catalogue to industry leader
Starting with a single catalogue in 1996, Bliss Direct handled orders by hand, keyed invoices into Sage, and picked with paper notes. As the range expanded into thousands of product lines and salons demanded more choice, manual processes became a bottleneck. In 2005 Bliss adopted Orderwise, integrating directly with Sage and bringing sales order processing and CRM into one place.
Early hurdles on the growth journey
- Handwritten orders and manual despatch admin didn’t scale with growth
- Seasonal peaks made stock planning difficult across a vast SKU catalogue
- Sage codes and finance‑centric workflows slowed down sales order processing
Before Orderwise we were handwriting orders and picking by memory. It worked when we were small, but growth made inefficiencies inevitable.
After more than 20 years with Orderwise, there’s a huge trust element, we know we can adapt and grow together.
Mark Tillotson, Managing Director
Proven results
Bliss Direct has seen measurable improvements across operations since adopting Orderwise. From faster dispatch to better forecasting, the system has helped underpin consistent growth and efficiency:
✅ ~5 minutes saved per order → around 25 hrs per week during peak volumes
✅ +5% YoY order growth since the pandemic
✅ Up to 2 hours per week saved on purchasing through forecasting
✅ 13 staff efficiently managing thousands of SKUs and hundreds of daily orders
We’re the only wholesaler that can give salons access to almost every brand on the market. With Orderwise underpinning operations, we can keep scaling that promise.
Looking ahead
Bliss is continuing to invest in people, infrastructure and technology to meet rising demand across the tanning industry. With Orderwise underpinning operations, the business is focused on scaling efficiently while maintaining the personal service customers expect.
With the newly completed warehouse expansion delivering 200m² of extra space, the team is now preparing to introduce new technology that will further transform how orders are picked and packed. With 30 years in business approaching, Bliss is gearing up for the next chapter of growth.
