Filling a critical merchandising role during a fast-paced ecommerce search at Bulk™

Bulk™ is a leading sports nutrition and active lifestyle brand, offering premium supplements, protein powders, and health products to customers. The business began in 2006 from a spare bedroom and has since grown into one of the largest and fastest-growing nutrition brands across the globe. 

Known for innovation, quality, and a strong ecommerce presence, Bulk continues to grow its online offering while keeping customer experience and commercial performance at the forefront. 

Bulk initially approached us in April 2025 after a gap was created within the ecommerce team. 

They needed someone someone with strong merchandising experience and with creative ideas around PDPs, customer journeys and exit intents. This niche skill set limited the talent pool available to the hiring team. They had already taken two candidates to the final stage of the interview process, but neither was successful. With urgency mounting, the team needed a specialist ecommerce recruitment agency to support the search. 

Following an in-depth conversation with the internal Talent Partner and Ecommerce Director to understand the hiring process so far, specialist ecommerce recruiter, Laura McManus, ran an exclusive search for Bulk. The business took down their advert and handed the process over entirely to her team, with any direct applicants routed through Laura for management. 

The process included: 

• A detailed call with the Ecommerce Director to refine the role requirements 
• Market mapping and candidate outreach to find talent with the right commercial trading skills 
• Regular catchups to tweak the search as new insights emerged

From this, Laura submitted 8 CVs, resulting in 4 first-stage interviews and 2 second-stage interviews. Both candidates were offer-worthy, but they offered the successful candidate the Senior Merchandising Manager role. 

Because the process had been smooth, communication had been consistent, and feedback was excellent, Laura was able to close the hire quickly. The candidate accepted and Bulk secured an outstanding addition to their team.