Energising a global drinks brand: How fulfilmentcrowd supports Carabao’s UK DTC growth

Born in Thailand and now available in over 40 countries worldwide, Carabao is a globally recognised energy drinks brand. 

In the UK, it’s one of the fastest-growing names in the industry, thanks to its colourful cans and bold energy drink flavours, isotonic sports range, standout promotional campaigns, and sports sponsorships. 

Carabao partnered with us over three years ago to manage its DTC operations in the UK. Today, we handle everything from daily order fulfilment to promotional campaigns, with alcohol fulfilment support on the horizon as the brand prepares to launch its new product range. 

Driving brand engagement via promotional campaigns and smart fulfilment 

Carabao regularly runs spend-based promotions, often aligned with major football campaigns and club partnerships. Previous campaigns have included: 

• Free football shirts with qualifying purchases  

• VIP stadium or club experiences 

• Carabao Cup tickets, with the brand being the longest-running title sponsor of the EFL Cup, having sponsored the competition since 2017 

Promotions are often high-volume and time-sensitive, but our fulfilment technology makes it simple to play our part. 

• Data handling: Carabao uses the Shopify app EG Auto Add to Cart Free Gift on the front-end to capture promotional data at checkout, which feeds directly into our fulfilment platform 

• Smart order processing: Our system recognises this promotional item (such as a raffle entry) as non-inventory lines, allowing us to store and manage this data without disrupting the order fulfilment process 

• Campaign and reporting support: We capture and securely pass promotional data back to Carabao, enabling external verification partners to manage prize draws and helping to power wider customer engagement campaigns 
  

“It’s not complicated – but only because of our systems. We’ve developed a way of recognising and processing promotional lines without causing fulfilment errors. That’s why the partnership works.”

Kim Mills, Account Manager, fulfilmentcrowd 

Bundling made simple: Flexible product assembly at speed 

Carabao’s DTC model thrives on offering its customers variety packs and mixed bundles, giving buyers the chance to try different flavours in a single order. 

On its eCommerce site, popular bundles include the Triple Pack, which offers the chance to select three flavours of choice in a 36-can pack. Whether the purchaser decides on 36 cans of Carabao’s Original flavour, or a mixed pack of Green Apple, Mixed Berry, and Mango Burst, our bundling support makes everything straightforward. 

• Dynamic SKU management: Each bundle has a unique SKU that’s linked to its component parts 

• Efficient picking: Our pick-and-pack teams work from optimised pick paths and live stock data to assemble mixed cases accurately and at speed 

• Real-time stock sync: Our Shopify integration ensures stock levels are always up to date, preventing oversells  

For Carabao, this means no compromise between product variety and efficiency, which is vital in a market where customer experience and speed of delivery make all the difference. 

Batch control for full visibility and compliance 

When you work with consumable products, traceability and stock rotation are essential. 

Carabao’s inventory is stored under ambient conditions at our UK fulfilment centres, with batch control in operation for every SKU. 

• Real-time visibility of all active batches, including expiry dates 

• FIFO (First In, First Out) logic, ensuring that older stock is always picked and shipped first 
• Product recall support, should it ever be required 

This compliance-first setup not only protects consumers, but builds trust with a globally recognised brand operating in a highly competitive space. 

Ready for the next chapter: Providing compliance-driven alcohol fulfilment support 

Carabao is set to challenge the alcohol market by launching a lager and two vodka variants, with fulfilment to be facilitated through our fully licensed Matrix Point centre in Chorley. 

The brand’s venture into alcohol has already seen great success: its lager and Sawasdee vodka winning a Great Taste Award, and its Khaohom vodka earning a Spirits Business Gold Award. 

Carabao will distribute its lager and vodka through our site – which is certified for alcohol storage and distribution – enabling us to: 

• Receive, store, and distribute alcohol goods 

• Ensure secure, age-restricted deliveries via trusted couriers 

• Integrate alcohol SKUs into Carabao’s existing Shopify platform 

By choosing fulfilmentcrowd for its alcohol fulfilment, Carabao has put its trust in a partner to distribute its latest product range to the same high standards as their energy drink operations. 

The results 

• 11% increase in items ordered in first 12 months versus last 12 months 

• 15% increase in items per order 

• 99.7% SLA in 2025 

• 99.8% SLA over 12 months (July ‘24 – July ‘25) 

“fulfilmentcrowd has been a key player in supporting our direct-to-consumer growth in the UK. Their technology not only provides support for our promotional campaigns, but enables us to offer greater flexibility to our customers. As we expand into alcohol, we’re confident that fulfilmentcrowd’s compliance expertise and flexible infrastructure will help us scale this new sector with the same success.”

John Luck, Chief Marketing Officer, Carabao 

Our take 

At fulfilmentcrowd, we love helping fast-moving brands work smarter. Carabao is the perfect example of a brand that consistently seeks to challenge the norm and make a splash in a highly competitive market (soon to be: markets). 

From its flagship energy drinks to the upcoming alcohol range, we’re proud to support Carabao with scalable, compliant, and tech-driven fulfilment. 

So, if you’re looking for a fulfilment partner that helps build brands – not just move boxes – get in touch with our team.