Guido Pleiter is the entrepreneur behind the successful Haarshop.nl. Guido started his adventure by opening his own hair salon. At the same time, from his attic room, he personally shipped shampoos and beauty products to customers. Due to the growing demand for these (hair) products and with Guido's interest in automation, he founded a webshop himself in 2003 to offer the products online. Two years later, Guido also opened the doors of wholesale Splendid Professional.
Haarshop.nl has continued to grow ever since. The e-commerce company operates from Duiven with its own office, webshop and logistics center. Guido Pleiter, owner of Haarshop.nl: "All parts of the company are housed under Haarshop.nl. This is how we effectively bring together our extensive knowledge, years of experience and professional products."
Many e-commerce companies put millions of euros into their marketing. But is that the right way? Marketing is important in acquiring new customers, but loyal customers and a strong customer relationship are created by providing good service. Denzell Bultman, business manager at Haarshop.nl: "Customers remember good customer service and at the same time that is the reason they return to make a purchase. This is why Haarshop.nl not only focuses on quality, but also on how that quality 'translates back'." According to Denzell, this is well reflected in customer service. All customer service employees have a well-rounded hairdressing background. Denzell: "This is where we excel greatly. If a customer wants a few shades lighter blonde hair, our customer service staff will provide targeted advice or answers."
In addition to expert customer service, Haarshop.nl pulls the quality through to other areas within the company. Examples include top brand product offerings, logistics and marketing. "What we say, we make true," Denzell nods approvingly. "Everything is worked out to perfection. It is the customer who is the focus and gets the attention. Does a customer order his products before 10 p.m.? Then he will receive the package the next day. We also pay attention to how our products reach the customer. For example, our light blue packaging boxes are easy to recognize."
Doing business online, there's a lot involved. Once you have the distribution in order and the marketing and customer service are in tip-top shape, there remains one important part. That is processing all incoming orders through a secure online payment system.
In an ideal situation, you also no longer have to worry about how payments are made and facilitated. "Online payments, that was a bit of a concern a while back," Denzell admits."We were working with an online payment provider that did not meet our needs and also did not fit the growth of Haarshop.nl. And that's important anyway, also because the webshop is our lifeline. Through a good reference we ended up at online payment provider Pay. They meet all our needs and also offer different payment methods and features. Thanks to Pay. we can focus more deeply on the further development of Haarshop.nl."