Pet Circle, Australia’s largest e-commerce pet supplies store, is celebrating its 12th birthday and has announced a multi-million-dollar investment in its last mile logistics, fulfilment centres and range to keep up with demand from the pet boom and raise the bar for customer experience in the category.
It has provided a first look at its recently launched, privately owned and operated delivery fleet in Perth and its two new fulfilment centres in Perth and Brisbane, which opened over the past year. The new sites have doubled Pet Circle’s fulfilment centre footprint to over nine football fields, bringing its total number of operated fulfilment centres across Australia to four.
With greater warehouse capacity, Pet Circle has also increased its range by a third to 13,500 unique products, which is the largest Australian-based range of pet supplies.
“We have always worked to ensure that pet owners across Australia have access to the best quality pet products whenever they need them. Over the last decade for Pet Circle this meant building an unmatched range of specialty pet products for every pet and every need at unbeatable prices,” says Pet Circle co-founder and CEO Mike Frizell.
“However, customers today are expecting more and to continue to exceed their expectations around our service, our range needs to be closer to them. We have invested in our fulfilment centres, range and last mile delivery over the past few years to redefine how pet parents shop, and our customers and the business are reaping the benefits,” Mr Frizell said.
“No longer do pet owners need to settle for generic, lower quality products. With a full range, close by, they can order what is best for their pet and have it on their doorstep super fast. We have cut our delivery times from five-seven days to just one-two days in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth. This has seen our sales grow 35 per cent year on year and helped Pet Circle to win the 2022 Canstar Blue Award for Most Satisfied Customers in the pet store category,” he said.
“We will continue to invest in our services as the pet category remains strong and the opportunity ahead is large. With the pet population growing and ec-ommerce penetration accelerating, we see an opportunity to provide a level of service that’s not available to Aussie pet parents today.”
Pet Circle’s privately owned delivery fleet in Perth, which includes 12 vans and Pet Circle employed drivers, is a first for the company, bolstering its existing dedicated metropolitan fleet of 140 vans spanning Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Canberra and Adelaide.
The dedicated fleet was launched in 2020 during the height of the pandemic to address the unreliable and jammed logistics networks and is a joint-operation with ANC and StarTrack. This investment in dedicated fleets makes Pet Circle one of a very small number of Australian e-commerce companies to run its own logistics network.
“Through our new privately owned delivery fleet we will be able to serve our Perth customers better. Customers can track their orders in real-time and as our delivery drivers become familiar with our Perth customers, they will be able to provide services unlike any other pet store, like ensuring packages are placed exactly where customers want them and decanting pet food for those unable to lift heavy bags,” says Pet Circle Head of Operations Nick Bennett.
Pet Circle’s fulfilment centre and range expansion is also helping the ecommerce pet supplies giant to better serve even more customers across the country.
The brand new 26,000sqm Brisbane fulfilment centre, which has the capacity to hold 30,000 unique products, and the 8000sqm Perth fulfilment centre, which has the capacity to hold 11,000 unique products, have allowed Pet Circle to deliver essential pet supplies faster to Queensland and Perth customers.
“Customers tell us that fast delivery, range and price are important to them and expanding our fulfilment centres is central to meeting these needs. Having large fulfilment centres closer to customers has allowed us to offer fast metropolitan delivery and provide a wider range of products available in states, so pet parents have more product choice across different price points. We are excited to continue to grow our capacity in our centres over the next few years and provide an unmatched customer experience,” Mr Bennett said.