eCommerce MasterPlan Multi-Channel eCommerce Made Simple: Lessons from Charles Bentley’s £30M Strategy with Andrew Steel
Oct 20, 2025
Andrew Steel, E-commerce Director at Charles Bentley, shares insights from managing over 20 sales channels for a 160-year-old brand. He discusses the evolution of multi-channel selling and the innovative stock-splitting system that prevents overselling. Andrew reveals how cutting their SKUs from 1,300 to 600 boosted efficiency and growth. He emphasizes leveraging data, weather patterns, and search terms for accurate forecasting, and highlights the benefits of using fractional experts to scale effectively. Also, hear about plans for relaunching products in Europe despite recent challenges.
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Reduce SKUs And Focus On Core Strengths
- Cull low-value SKUs and focus on strengths rather than listing everything everywhere.
- Charles Bentley reduced SKUs from ~1,300 to ~600 to concentrate on core products.
Channel Fit Trumps Blanket Distribution
- Not every product fits every marketplace; curated channels may exclude items.
- Sometimes unexpected channels perform well, so test before fully excluding placement.
Use Price Scraping As A Guide, Not An Auto-Panic
- Track price across channels but avoid frantic, automated price-matching without guardrails.
- Use scraping as a strategic guide rather than an always-on automatic repricer.
