The Solution Shop Retail

The Solution Shop was a full-service e-commerce company that specialised in direct fulfilment of electronics from China & Hong Kong. The company was started by Ben Prater at the age of 17 following frustration at purchasing a fitness wristband directly from China - with slow delivery, little to no customer support and faulty products. Over three years the company existed these problems were fixed to make the company a market leader in service levels, and forced competitors to increase there respective service levels. The Solution Shop was the first company selling Xiaomi devices in Europe that offered 30 day returns, free returns, 24/7 customer support and delivery in 3 days Europe wide. All customer support and logistics operations where developed in-house, but then operated by outsourced partners- enabling fast delivery from Chian for a fraction of the price of express couriers. Within three years the company had thousands of customers in over 30 countries, with plans to expand further. The company was wound down following the decision of the UK to leave the European Union, along with the unfair competition the company faced from systematic and organized VAT avoidance by Chinese owned Competitors. On 22nd of March 2019, the firm announced sales would be suspended, with warranty support continuing for 2 years.