PetLab Co.

The story of PetLab Co.’s inception is a bittersweet one.

Co-Founder Chris Masanto gave his dog, Krystal, a long and happy life. But when she was 17, the day every dog owner dreads came, and Chris had to make the heartbreaking decision to put her to sleep.

When we welcome pets into our family, we know with certainty that the day will come when we need to say goodbye. It never makes it any easier. And while Chris was thankful for the 17 long years he had with Krystal, he couldn’t shake a feeling of guilt.

In the last few years of her life, Krystal struggled with arthritic pain and struggled to walk. While by no means uncommon for dogs in their golden years, Chris’ guilt was stemmed in the fact that he felt he could have done more to help prevent or mitigate Krystal’s health issues.

Enter PetLab Co.: a business created by animal lovers, for animal lovers. Founded in memory of Krystal by Chris and his friend Damian, PetLab Co.’s mission is to give dogs and their owners as much happy, healthy time together as possible.

To help them achieve this, they’ve developed a vast range of pet supplements, made only with high quality, research-backed ingredients. Whether it’s for a resilient gut, shiny coat, healthy joints or strong teeth, PetLab offers an array of products that are dedicated to the health and wellbeing of your dogs.

Their product offering is certified by veterinarians and pet nutritionists, and propped up by an online community of dog experts and enthusiasts through which people can learn how to take the best care of their dogs, together.

PetLab Co. and J&J

When putting together this case study, we spoke to Chris Sutton, PetLab’s Logistics Manager. He’s been with PetLab for around two years, and is heavily involved PetLab’s operations globally.

A partnership built on trust

Before partnering with J&J, PetLab’s experience with 3PLs in the UK was far from ideal. They needed a fulfilment partner who they could trust to get their orders out on time, and adhere to the high standards that PetLab had set for their brand. When their previous fulfilment partner couldn’t meet those requirements, PetLab contacted J&J for help.

We’ve been fulfilling orders for PetLab for almost three years, and in that time, we’ve shown them that working with a 3PL doesn’t need to be stressful. PetLab now manages their UK fulfilment with a lean internal team of two and J&J Global Fulfilment, no longer needing to micromanage or put up with regular firefighting. They have the confidence in the J&J Team to get their orders out correctly and on time, which allows them to focus on other business activities as needed.

There are a few areas of ControlPort™ that PetLab finds particularly useful. For example, the Best Before End (BBE) area gives them a clear breakdown of products that are approaching their sell-by date, which is incredibly important data for a pet supplement brand as sending out products that are soon going out of date (or worse) is not great for the customer. 

With this information, they’re able to proactively advertise and forecast purchase orders. Additionally, they’re able to use ControlPort™ to halt the sale of products that are within 30 days of their BBE date, which helps to avoid customer complaints.

Furthermore, PetLab appreciates the transparency of the Live Pricebook which can be accessed through ControlPort™. While hardly the most exciting area of our software, we clearly break down every micro cost and fee, making it easy for our clients to check, audit, and understand all of their costs.