R&S Logistics and R&S Warehousing Solutions are used interchangeably in this blog post. They are one and the same company!
When you’re running a holiday light installation franchise, timing is everything. The season is short, the demand is intense, and every day a franchisee spends waiting on inventory is a day they can’t spend on the ladder closing out a job. For Wonderly Lights, that timing problem had become a real bottleneck — until they partnered with R&S Logistics, a Southeast 3PL who specializes in ecommerce fulfillment on the East Coast.
We sat down with an important member of the Wonderly Lights team to talk about what changed.
The Challenge: A Warehouse Across the Street, and a Process That Couldn’t Keep Up
Before working with the East Coast ecommerce fulfillment provider, Wonderly Lights was handling fulfillment the hard way: manually.
“We had originally been storing our products across the street,” Woody explained, “and we had to go over there and set up our orders, go and pick them… the orders wouldn’t necessarily go out the same day. They’d kind of sit around for a couple days, and we had to constantly remind the warehouse to get them out.”
That manual process created problems up and down the business:
- Internal time drain: Someone from the Wonderly Lights team had to physically go to the warehouse, assemble orders, and print shipping labels — pulling focus away from running the business.
- Inconsistent delivery: Orders sat for days before going out, with no reliable system to keep things moving.
- Costly delays for franchisees: Shipments that should have taken a couple of days were sometimes taking two weeks, and franchisees were paying a premium for the privilege.
And because the holiday lighting season is short and intense, those delays had a real cost. As Woody put it, the faster franchisees get their products, “the faster they can put up the lights… and they can do more installs in a very short and condensed season.”
Solving this wasn’t just an operational nice-to-have — it was tied directly to Wonderly Lights’ growth strategy. Franchisees were spread out and expanding, and the company needed a Southeast 3PL fulfillment partner that could scale with them.
The Search: Finding the Right Southeast 3PL Fit
With no prior experience in logistics or warehousing, Wonderly Lights used a 3PL matching service to find the right partner. The platform gathered their requirements and connected them with several 3PL providers to interview.
“After our interview with R&S, that’s how we made the decision that you guys were the best option for us,” Woody said.
The Partnership: Patience, Communication, and a True Hands-Off Solution
Wonderly Lights has now worked with the Southeast 3PL for roughly a year and a half, and the results have reshaped how the company operates.
Patient, hands-on onboarding. Coming from a background with little to no logistics experience, the Wonderly Lights team leaned heavily on R&S to explain even the most basic concepts. “Whether it was explaining stuff that was probably very elementary to you guys… you guys were so patient,” Woody said. “You were always willing to set up a meeting and just kind of talk through everything with us.” That extended to onboarding sessions covering everything from general workflow to platform-specific tools like Dropstream — patiently, and as many times as it took.
A team that’s easy to reach. Beyond the onboarding process, Woody highlighted just how accessible the R&S team has been day to day. “I was able to call the warehouse, the warehouse called me if they had questions about the product or if I had questions about a shipment… it never felt like we were being a burden.”
A truly hands-off fulfillment process. Today, the entire order flow runs without Wonderly Lights lifting a finger. “The order goes through Shopify, and that’s the only thing that we have to worry about,” Woody said. “We don’t have to worry about actually going over to the warehouse and putting the order together ourselves.”
The Results
Partnering with R&S Logistics delivered measurable wins on both sides of the business:
For Wonderly Lights (corporate):
- Order fulfillment responsibility — picking, packing, shipping, tracking — moved entirely off their internal team’s plate
- Significant time savings, with no more manual trips to a warehouse
For their franchisees:
- Lower shipping costs
- Greater shipping transparency and reliability
- Dramatically faster delivery — down from as long as two weeks to just a couple of days
- More capacity to take on installs during their critical, time-boxed selling season
In Their Own Words
“Nothing but great things to say about R&S Logistics… I truly can’t say how appreciative we are. The word I’ve been saying a lot is patience, because you guys have been truly so great and explained everything.” — Woody, Wonderly Lights
Looking for a 3PL partner who will take the time to get your team up to speed — and then get out of your way so you can focus on growth? Talk to R&S Logistics about how we can streamline your fulfillment.
🚚 Using a 3PL provider could help you focus on what matters most: growing your business!
Need a more optimal location? Tired of managing labor and leases?
Now could be the time to switch to a 3PL provider to save time and money and focus on growing your business.
“I know we’re probably a small customer for you, but we’ve never been treated that way. We’ve been treated like a priority and like we matter throughout the whole process.”
— Woody, Wonderly Lights