Hercules Stand Hercules Waiting Room Hercules Office Team Hercules team Sally
Quote Icon Get a quick estimate! Plus Icon

About Hercules

Hercules Direct Marketing was established back in 1991, by our Founder Steve.  Back then the business concentrated on direct mail in all its forms, list broking and data capture.

Fast forward a few decades and we have become an established e-commerce pick, pack and despatch company, but with our heritage still very much an active part of the business.

Our team is friendly, experienced and have worked together over a number of years, as a collective we work across two sites, with the systems being mainly internet based throughout, thus allowing us to fully integrate with major online shopping platforms & couriers/parcel networks.  It also allows for our customers to have full visibility of orders, from new, picked, packed & despatched, through to a click of the button and real live tracking will be provided.

We also provide a very unique and tailored Customer Service platform, allowing us to interact seamlessly with your customers’ via email and telephone if needed along with a full returns management system, whereby we can receive, action and confirm all returns on your behalf, we also can go as far as refunding and exchanging!

Our DM customers are not forgotten – they are the foundation of the business after all, we regularly complete a number of mailings from A4  to DL for a variety of sectors, we are able to source data, prepare and print artwork, this all alongside a fast turnaround on the fulfilment & posting of the mailing to recipients.  We also handle data capture projects, allowing our DM customers to sit back, relax and await the final responses report!

COVID precautions at Hercules COVID precautions at Hercules

The Hercules Journey

1991

Steve

Hercules was founded

In 1991, a former teacher turned entrepreneur and his friend had an idea to start a direct marketing company over a wine or two.  With this Hercules was born!

1994

The business takes off

This year saw Hercules move into its own offices as well as the start of our business relationship with corporate companies within the pharmaceutical sector, supporting a range of products to both consumers and professionals.  This is a strength which still today remains as important as it did back then

1996

Growing in Numbers

Staff levels in Hercules begin to grow and a three storey office felt like it was fast filling.  From a data capture dedicated floor through to ground floor fulfilment.  This alongside supporting a very important football bid and sending out both wedding & stationery catalogues… yep these offices became a hive of activity almost overnight.

2000

We took on a new Office Assistant

Little did we know that the same Office Assistance would one day become the business MD!

This also saw us help a company launch an Oral Healthcare Programme which was supported by Hercules for a period of 12 years.

2006

Hercules Building

Hercules take over a second property

Finally, we managed to secure a purpose-built industrial unit in an estate (rather than town centre), it was also brand new (exciting times), allowing Hercules to become for the first time an in-house logistics company providing both office & storage space.

We quickly found that working from a unit (rather than offices) was the way forward despite the shops being on hand! So, in 2008 we moved to lock, stock and barrel to the unit, quickly we added a mezzanine floor, for even more space.

2012

Celebrating in Style

Hercules celebrated 20 years of business in style! With a champagne opening toast, 3-course meal, and a very, very late night for members of the Hercules team past & present.  Steve did this in style the meal was fabulous and it was fantastic to see old staff meeting new staff and discussing the life of Hercules.

2017
Our Office
Titan & Hercules (in keeping with the Greek mythology)

With the growth of e-commerce fulfilment, we extended our business across two units.  This has since continued and in 2019 we moved to a bigger warehouse in Titan Drive, which is the unit we find ourselves in today, alongside a further unit just up the road.

2019

A new direction

This year saw our founder, hand over the MD baton to Sally.  Since then they have continued to work side by side and only recently has Steve seen that a slower pace of life really can exist.

 

2021

Recent Events

With the pandemic alongside brexit, Hercules has grown stronger than ever, thanks to the commitment and drive of its team.  Throughout the challenges they have stayed focused and safe.

Meet Some Of Our Team

Sally Strudwick

Sally Strudwick

Managing Director

Sally has been with Hercules since the year 2000 and became a Director in 2013. Sally is focused on the day to day running of the business via a very 'hands on' approach!

Paul Nicholls

Paul Nicholls

Warehouse & Deliveries

Paul came to Hercules looking for a few weeks work and never left! He has over his time, become a valued member of the team and has been Team Leader, and in recent years takes control of deliveries and is currently working his way up to Warehouse Manager status! We call him the 'deputy' at the moment

Charlotte McNee

Charlotte McNee

Accounts & Office Manager

Charlotte is an essential member of Hercules’ management team and has developed her role into Account Management. She works alongside Sally and is responsible for the Customer Service team as well as our ISO audits! The staff are always nice to her as she also manages their wages.

Testimonial Icon
Testimonials

Have a read of just some of our reviews from our superb customers who have grown with us over the years

Read More

“I would most likely put myself in the category of a ‘fussy’ and ‘high maintenance’ client. We produce high-end art books that are shipped all around the world. How they arrive to customers is critical to the success of our business. Over the last 3 years, Hercules have worked alongside us and fully understood the level of quality needed in the whole ordering process – right from customer service, to pick/pack, to delivery. Together, we’ve gradually improved things, little by little over the years and to this day still look at ways we can do things better, I love that. We regularly get comments from our customers about how their book has arrived and how amazing the packing was.

 

Something that is hard to come by with a fulfilment house is trust. The fact that I can get on with running my business and not have to worry about the fulfilment of our books is a complete game changer. I would not hesitate to recommend Hercules.”

 

 

Sam Dyer, creative director, Bitmap Books.

We have been working with Hercules for almost 2 years now and frankly we could not be happier with the service and the help that they provide – and it is always done in a very professional and friendly way. Great company, great people – highly recommend them.

Graeme @ Enhanced Recovery

After doing research we discovered Hercules and found them to be exceptional in support and guidance for our start up indie beauty brand, Beauty Edit Mayfair. They have helped us throughout the process with executing orders, sourcing shipping materials, and general shipping enquiries. They’re approach to customer service is very personable which has been a wonderful experience for our team and makes communication smooth and convenient. This is a fulfilment company that we would highly recommend.

Kirsty @ Beauty Edit Mayfair

Sampling represents a vitally important pillar in our brand activation and Hercules have be instrumental in us automating and simplifying that process, allowing us to better effectively reach our audience and deliver successful campaigns.

Matt

After years of frustration with contract warehouse providers, we moved to Hercules Direct Marketing in 2019.  To our surprise and delight, the reality of working with them is at least as good as the marketing claims.  We are freed up to focus on building our business.  They are simply outstanding.

Adam @ Edel Immersys

Our business relies on Hercules to deliver our client and members an excellent service. Hercules continues to meet and exceed our expectations. Thanks to Hercules our operation runs seamlessly.

Since I have been working with them, I never experienced any miscommunications or problems. If anything, they have played a huge part in improving our services.

Recently, we have reached out with an initiative to be more eco-friendly, and they have gone above and beyond to make our initiative a reality.

Lucila @Buchanan