How a Pet Supply Chain Found Clarity and Control with TradeBeyond’s Supplier Management

An Eye Towards Building Greater Efficiency 

Chris Smith, General Manager at Pets at Home knew they needed a supplier management solution to begin streamlining their internal and external operational processes in a bid to maintain their lead amongst their competitors. There was a large amount of information and documentation requirements from suppliers and compliance initiatives which would only continue to grow in complexity and volume.  

“The administrative burden of managing suppliers continues to grow as requirements increase across the business. From vendor management and compliance to product documentation and reporting, there’s a constant flow of information to manage. ESG and compliance standards are also evolving rapidly, becoming more complex and demanding. Without a centralized system, we would need significantly more people to handle the same workload, and information would quickly become fragmented and siloed," said Chris Smith, General Manager at Pets at Home. 

Taking Steps Towards Insight and Visibility 

Chris was looking for a solution that they could grow with. He understood very well that for them to fully optimize the benefits of a supply chain management solution, they would need to leverage as many areas in the supply chain journey as possible. TradeBeyond’s CBX platform was the perfect fit. They would begin with the supplier management vendor onboarding feature with a plan to eventually move onto compliance, and product line management.  

While the benefits of onboarding vendors were significant, both TradeBeyond and the Pets at Home teams faced challenges during system implementation. Like many organizations, Pets at Home had internal processes that were highly customized and fragmented across departments. Each team operated with its own workflows, approval structures, and data management systems, making it difficult to align with a standardized digital process. Implementing TradeBeyond’s CBX platform required mapping these variations, managing user adoption, and ensuring seamless integration with legacy systems—all factors that can initially slow progress and delay efficiency gains. Over time, however, these challenges were successfully addressed, and both internal teams and vendors began using the CBX supplier management solution as a centralized platform for communication and documentation. 

“TradeBeyond’s supplier management solution simplified vendor onboarding significantly. We were managing our activities through spreadsheets manually before, so this solution expedited our activities and provided greater visibility. It made things much easier for us. Their smart alerts also helped us manage risk, notifying us when activities or documents were coming due and required action. There’s an obvious benefit to implementing separate supply chain modules. But I believe the real benefit becomes exponential to some extent if you implement certain modules together to achieve an end-to-end solution.” 

- Chris Smith, General Manager at Pets at Home 

As more vendors were onboarded to the platform, communication with the retailer became faster and more streamlined. At the same time, Pets at Home’s internal users experienced noticeable gains in productivity and efficiency. For Chris’s team, having accurate data centralized in one place has enabled them to manage suppliers more effectively and make more informed decisions to strengthen vendor relationships. 

How Vendor Onboarding Helped Spark Value  

With the initial rollout of vendor onboarding, Pets At Home has seen some meaningful benefits for their business. 

“There’s a lot of back-and-forth communication between buyers, QA, and technical teams. With CBX, we spend far less time resolving issues across different parties thanks to the increased transparency and visibility into every stage of the process,” said Chris Smith, General Manager at Pets at Home.  

“As we continue to use vendor onboarding, all related compliance and future compliance requirements should be integrated. We also want our internal processes to leverage CBX’s PLM solution and use their critical path tracking feature to make further improvements to internal systems. Taking a more holistic view, I think there are massive opportunities with the CBX platform and its capabilities in terms of expediting time to market for new initiatives and reducing transaction costs in our business.” 

- Chris Smith, General Manager at Pets at Home 

Some of the improvements they have seen after using TradeBeyond’s CBX platform: 

• 60% improvement in data accuracy 

• 70% faster vendor onboarding time 

• 50% reduction in administrative and operational costs  

About Pets at Home

Pets at Home is the UK’s leading pet care brand, dedicated to helping pets and their owners live happier, healthier lives. Founded in 1991 with its first store in Chester, the company has grown into a nationwide network of around 460 pet care centres across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Each location brings together everything pet owners need — from high-quality food and accessories to professional grooming and trusted veterinary care through its Vets4Pets and Companion Care brands. Today, Pets at Home employs over 11,000 passionate colleagues who share one mission: to make life better for pets and the people who love them.