From £500k to £12m – How StoreFeeder helped scale a marketplace business
When Andy Priestley-Smith took over Money Cruncher in 2019, the multi-channel retailer had turned over just under £500,000 a year and was being run largely from one person's memory of where the stock was kept. Five years later it was a £12m business with £1m in net profit.
StoreFeeder was central to that growth, and it is now the first system Andy reaches for as a marketplace growth consultant. We spoke to him about the operational challenges he faced, how the platform helped the business scale through one of the busiest periods in eCommerce history, and why he still recommends it to businesses of every size.
When Andy joined Money Cruncher in 2019, the business had turned over just under £500,000 the previous year and had set a target of £1m and beyond. The warehouse was the first thing that stood out.
The operation relied almost entirely on one person who knew where every product was kept. Stock was not properly labelled, variants and colourways were mixed on the same shelves, and orders were picked and packed from memory. Each order was processed by printing an integrated label, peeling it off and sticking it to the parcel, then filing a paper copy as proof of despatch.
The result was slow, manual and error-prone:
"There was only one person who worked in that warehouse, and they knew exactly where all the products were. It was very slow and very manual." – Andy Priestley-Smith
Andy had looked at other well-known warehouse systems but found them expensive for what they offered and hard to justify for an ambitious, high-volume seller. StoreFeeder gave him the balance of value and functionality he needed and went live on 18 March 2020.
Bringing StoreFeeder in let the team rebuild the operation around proper process rather than memory:
"StoreFeeder meant anyone could do that job. We could train people on how to use a scanner and a system, and it made everything quicker and far more accurate." – Andy Priestley-Smith
StoreFeeder went live five days before the first COVID lockdown, and demand rose sharply. Money Cruncher's turnover went from around £120,000 in February to £350,000 in March and close to £500,000 a month across the following two months, with the vast majority now flowing through the warehouse rather than third-party fulfilment.
To cope, the warehouse ran 24 hours a day across 12 packing stations. Once the peak settled, Andy used what he had learned to design a leaner setup: five dedicated workstations that could absorb any spike without further expansion. Pick rates climbed from 40 to 50 an hour to 70 or 80 almost immediately, and after a 2021 warehouse move built around StoreFeeder, they went beyond 100 an hour, reaching 150 or more on bulk picks.
The growth followed. The business finished that financial year at £2.4m, a fivefold increase, and reached £12m in revenue with £1m in net profit within four years. Andy left at the end of 2024, and the platform remains the core operational system there today.
"I always say two things enabled our success: the team of people I had and StoreFeeder. We just wouldn't have survived without it." – Andy Priestley-Smith
The qualities that helped Money Cruncher scale apply well beyond a single warehouse. As a growth consultant, Andy now runs MKT Works, advising businesses ranging from established B2B SMEs moving into direct-to-consumer to sellers working out of a back bedroom, with StoreFeeder featuring in most of those conversations.
What surprises his clients most is how straightforward it is to set up. Many expect the burden of a traditional ERP or warehouse system, but Andy usually configures it himself, with StoreFeeder's team available for site visits or specific support whenever needed.
He also points to the platform's value well beyond the warehouse floor. Its marketplace functionality lets sellers push existing product data to a new channel and set up listings quickly, cutting office admin and picking time. Its reporting and traceability, from cost prices and stock takes to historical stock values, have proved their worth at moments such as year-end audits.
"Only this week I was taking a client's financial auditors through their stock at month-end. The reporting in StoreFeeder lets you go back in time and look at it whenever you need to. It might not be the prettiest system, and the team would say that themselves, but it is incredibly functional." – Andy Priestley-Smith
The qualities that helped Money Cruncher scale apply well beyond a single warehouse. As a growth consultant, Andy now runs MKT Works, advising businesses ranging from established B2B SMEs moving into direct-to-consumer to sellers working out of a back bedroom, with StoreFeeder featuring in most of those conversations.
What surprises his clients most is how straightforward it is to set up. Many expect the burden of a traditional ERP or warehouse system, but Andy usually configures it himself, with StoreFeeder's team available for site visits or specific support whenever needed.
He also points to the platform's value well beyond the warehouse floor. Its marketplace functionality lets sellers push existing product data to a new channel and set up listings quickly, cutting office admin and picking time. Its reporting and traceability, from cost prices and stock takes to historical stock values, have proved their worth at moments such as year-end audits.
For Andy, the lesson that runs through every business he works with is that operations deserve as much attention as sales. Efficient picking, despatch and stock control do more than just cut costs. They give a business the headroom to grow and the confidence to take on more volume without breaking.
"Efficient operations always deliver more bottom-line profit, and they let you scale quicker. By putting StoreFeeder in, you are not just buying operational efficiency; you are putting in a system that helps your business grow its revenue and profitability." – Andy Priestley-Smith
"Our business simply couldn’t exist without StoreFeeder. We sell to more than 70 countries around the world, we ship up to 3,000 orders per day – from the smallest rug up to the very largest. We have seven different couriers and more than 100 different courier services. StoreFeeder has grown with us and allowed us to grow to that rate."
Paul, Founder & Owner
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