Men's grooming DTC (UK)
Shopify store from scratch for a UK men's grooming brand. Catalogue by routine × concern, subscription model, and outreach to UK lifestyle press.
- Niche
- Men's grooming DTC
- Platform
- Shopify
- Timeframe
- 6 months
Challenge
A UK men's grooming bootstrapped startup that had grown through Instagram and a few PR placements. They had a proven product but no own e-commerce - sales went through a third-party marketplace at 30% margin loss. They wanted a Shopify store that owned the customer relationship.
What I did
Shopify build from scratch with a UK-market-tuned custom theme. Catalogue structured by routine × concern - the real way men search ('skincare for oily skin', 'beard oil for thick beards', 'anti-ageing serum men'). Subscription model with quarterly delivery + pause/skip flow. Routine builder quiz that picks products based on answers - it earned 41 editorial backlinks because grooming and lifestyle blogs link to product-finder tools. Product + Offer + Review + Quiz schema. hreflang for en-GB and en-IE. Outreach to UK men's lifestyle press.
- Shopify build from scratch with a custom theme tuned for the UK market
- Catalogue structured by routine (face, beard, hair, body) × concern (acne, ageing, dryness)
- Subscription model with quarterly delivery option and pause/skip flow
- Routine builder quiz - earned backlinks from grooming and lifestyle blogs
- Product + Offer + Review + Quiz schema, rich snippets from day 1
- hreflang for en-GB and en-IE for the Irish market
- GA4, GSC and Shopify Analytics wired before launch
- Outreach to UK men's lifestyle blogs and reviewers (Esquire, Gear Patrol, Coach Mag)
Results
In 6 months: from £0 organic revenue to £24,600/month. 38 keywords in Top 3 in the UK SERP. 412 active subscription subscribers - more predictable than Instagram or marketplace. 2.7% organic conversion rate. They moved off the third-party marketplace entirely six months after launch.
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Let's talk
First, let's see if we're a good fit.
A 30-minute call, just me and you. You tell me about your store, your goals, and where you feel stuck. I tell you how I'd approach it. No slides, no pitch. If it feels right on both sides, the next step is a real SEO audit and a plan built around your store.
- You share, I show you the pathYou tell me about the business - catalogue, goals, numbers, what you've already tried. Inside the call I tell you how I'd scale you: which channels work for your case, which don't, and the order I'd run them in.
- If it's a fit, I audit your storeIf we both feel good after the call, the next step is a real audit of your store and a plan for the next 90 days. If not, no hard feelings.
- You always talk to meI work solo - no account managers in between, no junior handovers. Six years on Shopify, WooCommerce and custom ecommerce builds, and the person on the call is the person doing the work afterwards.
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