Havelins Pet Care Group is a fast-growing UK eCommerce business selling premium pet supplies across multiple online marketplaces. Like many ambitious eCommerce brands, they hit a ceiling — not because demand wasn't there, but because their back-end logistics simply couldn't keep up. This is the story of how partnering with Reilly's Express Delivery transformed their operation and gave them the platform to scale.
The challenge: growing fast with no infrastructure to match
Havelins Pet Care Group had built something impressive — a loyal customer base, strong product range and a presence across seven different sales channels. Orders were coming in consistently. On paper, it looked like success.
But behind the scenes, the reality was very different. The team was stretched to breaking point. Without a proper warehouse management system, stock levels were a constant source of anxiety — they simply couldn't get an accurate picture of what they had, which meant they couldn't confidently order the stock they needed to meet demand. Running out of a key product wasn't just frustrating; it meant lost sales and disappointed customers.
❌ Before Reilly's
- Orders flooding in from 7 separate channels with no central view
- No warehouse management system — stock levels were guesswork
- Unable to confidently reorder stock due to lack of visibility
- Team overwhelmed — all hours spent on fulfilment, none on growth
- No live tracking for customers across all channels
- Impossible to plan ahead or enter new sales channels
✅ After Reilly's
- All 7 channels unified in one DespatchLab dashboard
- Live stock numbers updated in real time as orders are picked
- Confident stock purchasing decisions based on accurate data
- Team freed up to focus entirely on growth and new products
- 100% tracked delivery across every order and channel
- Now actively entering new sales channels from a position of strength
Managing orders across seven different platforms — each with its own interface, its own fulfilment requirements and its own customer expectations — meant the team was constantly firefighting. There was no single view of what needed to go out, what had been despatched or what stock remained. Every day was a battle just to keep up, let alone plan ahead.
"Partnering with Reilly's was a major step in growing our business. Being able to focus on growth, knowing our fulfilment is in safe hands, has been transformational — with their dedicated team, we simply would not have been able to do it."
— Havelins Pet Care GroupThe seven channels problem
The sheer number of sales channels was one of the biggest operational headaches. Havelins were selling across:
Each channel had different order formats, different despatch requirements and different customer communication standards. Keeping on top of all of them manually — processing orders, managing stock, printing labels, booking collections — was consuming the entire working day. And nights. And weekends.
The problem wasn't a lack of effort or commitment from the team. It was a structural problem: they had built a multi-channel sales operation without the logistics infrastructure to support it. The business had outgrown its own processes.
Why Havelins chose Reilly's Express Delivery
When Havelins Pet Care Group came to Reilly's, they weren't just looking for somewhere to store their stock. They needed a complete operational transformation — a partner who could take ownership of the fulfilment side of the business end-to-end, integrate with all their sales channels, and give them back the time and clarity to run and grow the company.
As a Diamond Logistics network partner, Reilly's offered access to DespatchLab — the award-winning multi-channel logistics platform that integrates with 40+ eCommerce channels and provides live visibility across the entire operation. For Havelins, this was exactly what was missing.
The solution: one platform, total visibility
Stock transferred to Reilly's fulfilment centre
Havelins' pet supplies inventory was transferred to our Lutterworth depot, received and booked into the DespatchLab warehouse management system. Every SKU catalogued, counted and live from day one.
All 7 sales channels integrated
DespatchLab connected to every Havelins sales channel via API. Orders from Amazon, eBay, Shopify and all other platforms now flow automatically into one central dashboard — no manual imports, no missed orders.
Live stock visibility switched on
For the first time, the Havelins team could see exactly how much of every product they had — updated in real time as items were picked and despatched. No more stockout surprises. No more over-ordering out of anxiety.
100% tracking on every order
Every single order despatched from our fulfilment centre carries full end-to-end tracking. Customers across all channels receive tracking information automatically, reducing enquiries and improving satisfaction.
Team freed to focus on growth
With fulfilment handled entirely by Reilly's, the Havelins team could redirect their time to what actually grows the business — sourcing new products, developing supplier relationships and planning the next phase of expansion.
The results: from surviving to scaling
The transformation has been significant. What was previously consuming the entire working day — and then some — is now handled automatically. Havelins Pet Care Group have gone from spending most of their time on operational firefighting to spending their time on the things that actually matter: selecting new stock lines, deepening supplier relationships and now actively exploring new sales channels.
That last point is particularly telling. Before Reilly's, entering a new sales channel would have been unthinkable — it would have meant even more manual work on an already overwhelmed team. Now, with DespatchLab handling the integration and fulfilment automatically, adding a new channel is a straightforward operational decision rather than a logistical nightmare.
Live stock visibility has changed the way the business makes purchasing decisions. Rather than ordering conservatively out of fear of running out — or ordering too much and tying up cash — Havelins can now order with confidence, backed by accurate, real-time data on exactly what they have and how quickly lines are moving.
What this means for pet supplies eCommerce businesses
The Havelins story isn't unique. Across the UK, eCommerce pet supplies businesses are hitting the same wall — strong demand, multiple channels, but logistics infrastructure that simply can't scale at the same pace. The answer isn't to hire more staff to do more manual work. It's to put the right systems and partners in place so the operation can grow without the bottlenecks.
If your pet supplies business is facing similar challenges — too many channels, no stock visibility, a team consumed by fulfilment rather than growth — Reilly's pet fulfilment services are built around exactly this problem. And with our instant 3PL quote calculator, you can get an estimate in under two minutes.