Pet Family Ecommerce Case Study

Multi-channel Commerce serving the pet care sector.

Founded in 1968 and having evolved over time through the creation or acquisition of other business, Pet Family are now one of the UK's leading pet care companies who combine to offer both the individual pet owner and independent pet shop owner an unrivalled quality of services and products. The group consists of a number of high-quality pet food & pet care manufacturers alongside wholesale pet supply businesses, and their Pets Corner chain of retail stores (over 160), making them the largest independent pet retailer in the UK.

The Problem

Having developed or acquired numerous pet care businesses over the years, Pet Family had a number of DTC, Retail and B2B ecommerce sites running on different platforms including Magento 2 and WooCommerce. It meant things were becoming difficult to manage, functionality was missing, and costs were not shared. Their existing agency, and platforms, were also struggling to meet their requirements in terms of their future growth plans. In fact, there was a litany of issues.

With these constant, recurrent errors mounting up, they were beginning to erode customer trust and damage their bottom line. What they needed was a solution to these issues, centred around an ecommerce platform capable of supporting all of the sites across their different businesses and channels. They also needed an ecommerce agency well-versed in delivering projects of this scale and able to support their international growth plans.

Different sites running on different ecommerce platforms.

Development time and upgrades were costly as multiple platforms meant multiple changes and more time.

Over reliance on apps or extensions for functionality (many features were not native).

Performance issues with site speed and reliability, partly caused by over reliance on apps.

The ongoing security risks of open-source ecommerce software and the potential for fraud.

Platforms unable to deliver international channels for their sites in an efficient way.

Integration issues between their ecommerce platforms and ERP affecting how stock was displayed to customers and impacting the quality of their Click & Collect service.

Subscriptions apps proving extremely problematic and unreliable.

Agency not experienced in delivering large, international projects of this scale and complexity.

"Red Technology have been nothing short of exceptional with their knowledge and guidance with this project. They have been a pleasure to work with from start to finish, their attention to detail has been excellent for us with understanding our expectation and drive for a successful portfolio of websites."

Director of E-commerce & Marketing, Pet Family

The Challenge

Alongside the top level issues, there were a whole host of project requirements laid out by Pet Family before the start of the project including a number of specific areas where they sought improvements over their existing platforms and agency. The project effectively involved the delivery of thirty nine new sites across their different brands and businesses. Ten were replacing current sites, whilst twenty nine were brand new channels.

Multiple sites
Deliver 10 replacement sites for existing channels plus 29 new sites across a number of their different business models and channels (many of them international) all running on the same platform.
Personalisation
Include ’Out of the Box’ marketing and personalisation features to allow customised user experiences, that aren’t reliant on apps, plug-ins, bolt-ons, or customised solutions, for functionality.
Global Ecommerce
Capability to grow globally with a platform that caters for global ecommerce including support for local languages, currencies, taxation systems, warehouses, shipping, and payment methods.
Subscriptions
Deliver inherent subscription functionality that can be used across any of the different brands and businesses whilst still being flexible enough to alter the offering for each different channel, right down to an individual product level.
Platform authors
Capability to enhance the sites and add unique functionality through platform development via direct access to the original authors, rather than an agency building on a third-party platform with no control.
Simple admin system
Employ a user-friendly solution with a single administration system across the business and it’s entire portfolio of sites — capable of supporting retail, B2B, DTC & global ecommerce natively from a single platform.
Integrations
Facilitate bespoke integration between ecommerce platform and their differing ERP systems to suit their requirements.
Speed & Performance
Deliver faster page loading, checkout process, and general website performance.
Third-party tools
Integrate with other third-party services such as Feefo, Avalara, Snap Widget, Weglot, and Mailchimp.
Security
Avoid the use of any open-source platforms due to inherent security risks.
Font-end control
Provide more control of front end content and managing promotions & products.
Click & Collect
Improve Click & Collect functionality.

Project Integrations

The Solution

Having undertaken an in depth review of a number of platforms and providers alongside a specialist consultant, they decided on Red Technology and the tradeit ecommerce platform. Pet Family's decision to partner with Red Technology represents a strategic move towards a more connected, data-driven future. As their customers’ expectations evolve, they are looking to leverage a digital platform that not only meets current demands but also offers room for future expansion. tradeit provides exactly that—a flexible, future-proof solution that aligns with Pet Family's growth trajectory.

As a highly experienced, full-service ecommerce agency, authoring their own feature-rich platform, Red Technology already fulfilled a number of the criteria for the project such as moving away from an unsecure, open-source solution, providing a single administration system for all the sites, and negating any reliance on apps for functionality. Hosting the sites on their own managed, private cloud environment also delivers the performance and security improvements they sought.

It was decided to deliver one site and integration in full to start with, and use this as a basis to assist in the delivery of the other sites. It also helped them evaluate Red Technology’s capabilities. Pet Family chose to deliver their www.we.pet site first. which was a brand new B2B wholesale business selling into independent pet stores, so wasn’t replacing an existing site. That way they could soft-launch and iron out any teething issues first, without risking harming their existing customer base. Any doubts were unfounded as the launch was completely seamless and without issue, meaning the rollout could accelerate thereafter.

The finished we.pet site was then used as a starting point to deliver sites for the other brands and businesses across their portfolio. tradeit can rapidly duplicate channels at the click of a button, which can then be restyled, leading to quicker deployment at a lower cost and a higher ROI. Any additional templates, functionality or integrations can then be added to the individual channels that require it, including the following:

Global & Multichannel

With 39 different sites across their brands and businesses the chosen solution had to be able to cope with all the different types of ecommerce channels that Pet Family were looking to deploy.

Red Technology's tradeit platform, known for its agility and scalability, is specifically designed to meet the needs of dynamic, multi-brand organisations like Pet Family, with native support for B2B, DTC, Retail & Global ecommerce simultaneously. The platform enables the management of several distinct pet care brands under a single, unified system with each brand maintaining its own identity and customer base, whilst still retaining the capability to share products, data and content across any channels.

As Pet Family continues to grow, tradeit is built to scale alongside it. The flexibility of the system ensures that new brands, products, or services can be easily added without significant disruption to ongoing operations. By delivering a scalable, customer-centric ecommerce platform, Red Technology is enabling Pet Family to stay ahead of the competition and continue delivering exceptional value to pet owners and businesses.

Subscriptions

As direct-to-consumer sales are so important, offering subscriptions was a key element of their sales strategy and it was paramount to fix them on the sites. It accounts for almost 20% of their revenue, helps ensure future sales without the added cost of acquisition, and drives a significantly higher CLV (Customer Lifetime Value) than from non-subscribers.

The sites had previously used a combination of various subscription apps (these were different across the many platforms) which all worked in different ways, but with lots of issues. Many orders failed, there were high levels of fraud, and no resolution was being offered by their agency. Rather than rely on a third-party plug-in or app as previously, the subscription functionality is inherent to the tradeit platform. That means it’s developed as part of the core code by the same developers responsible for the platform, ensuring every element works perfectly with the other functionality and failed orders are a thing of the past. Subscriptions now work the same across every one of their ecommerce channels ensuring easy management for staff and a consistent UX for customers. However, they’re still flexible enough to offer different fulfilment options across the different brands or businesses, even right down to an individual product level (i.e. fortnightly on one product, annually on another etc…).

It's PCI DSS compliant, flexible and functionally rich too, with a focus on the customers' ability to self-serve. That means they are in control of their repeat orders and can add to them, change their frequency, billing day, payment method, delivery address, billing date (if they are away for example), or cancel them whenever they like.

Click & Collect

Although only the Pets Corner business and website has a requirement for Click & Collect, as the largest revenue generating channel, it was crucial that Pet Family fixed the issues and improved the service. With over 160 stores nationwide it’s a key aspect of their omnichannel offering. Issues with their live stock feed meant that the previous site would show availability in stores, but caveat that with a message informing customers they couldn’t guarantee availability. This resulted in a confusing and poor user experience, adversely affecting both conversions and customer confidence, and often resulting in lengthy delays when ‘in stock’ items were ordered.

Through tighter integrations between tradeit and their ERP system, store stock is now updated in real time meaning customers can see actual stock availability at their closest five stores, ensuring Click & Collect orders can be fulfilled in as little as two hours without issue.

LEARN MORE ›

"Partnering with Red Technology has enabled us to create an ecommerce ecosystem that is not only highly functional but also centered on the unique needs of our customers. Their platform provides the perfect foundation for us to continue expanding while keeping our focus on providing exceptional service to pet owners."

Director of E-commerce & Marketing, Pet Family

Personalisation

Another standout feature, unavailable before, is the ability to deliver personalised shopping experiences based on customer behaviour, preferences, and purchasing history right down to an individual level. Pet Family also collect additional data on customers’ pets so can then target them using that information.

Conditional Components

They use tradeit’s conditional components to show or hide site content anywhere across the site based on over 40 different rules and conditions including data on the user (and their pet or pets), their basket, what they search for, where they’re located, where they’ve been referred from (email campaign, social media, affiliate etc...), and much more. This includes targeting different animals, breeds, sizes, dietary requirements, ages, and more.

Triggered Emails

They also use tradeit’s automated triggered emails to communicate with users based on various actions or inactions (i.e. replenishment, post-purchase, welcome, dormant customers, abandoned basket, loyalty rewards after a defined number of orders, pet’s birthday etc...) across any and all of their brands. Email content can be shared across channels but styled to match the specific brands look and feel.

Promotions

On their previous sites, promotions were very disjointed meaning customer’s saw different offers for the same thing in different places, including in store. As the sites were split between different platforms, with different capabilities, and using different apps, it was impossible to deliver anything consistent or innovative, and almost impossible to manage internally.

Harnessing the capabilities of tradeit’s class-leading promotions engine they are now able to deliver much more inventive, flexible and consistent offers across all of their sites including numerous different discounts and promotions like multi-buys, % off, coupons, bundles, free gifts, and much more. Given that many of their products have relatively short shelf lives, they can even drive product discounts based on expiry date ensuring a consistent turnover of stock and avoiding costly stock write-offs.

Conclusion

So far the solution comprises 39 separate sites, 13 different territories, 12 brands, 6 languages, and 4 different ERPs, alongside a number of additional third-party integrations. By delivering a scalable, customer-centric ecommerce platform, Red Technology is enabling Pet Family to stay ahead of the competition and continue delivering exceptional value to pet owners online.

The cutting-edge solution is set to transform how Pet Family’s collection of brands engage with pet owners, offering a seamless, personalised, and data-driven shopping experience. With enhanced features like multi-brand management, omnichannel integration, and personalised customer journeys, this new solution positions Pet Family at the forefront of the digital pet care revolution. As Red Technology continues to innovate, its partnership with Pet Family underscores the importance of adapting to changing consumer behaviours in an evolving marketplace.

In a world where pet owners expect convenience and care at their fingertips, Red Technology’s solution ensures that Pet Family is well-equipped to meet these demands—and exceed them. As the partnership evolves, Red Technology will remain a key player in supporting Pet Family's digital journey, ensuring that they can meet the needs of an increasingly connected, tech-savvy customer base.