Now 32, Fred co-founded We Prep E-commerce Logistics & Fulfilment – built on instinct, grit and a few well-timed leaps.
Speaking via WhatsApp video from his newly acquired Ipswich warehouse – shuttling between his van and a quiet corner inside, briefly animated by a muntjac deer scooting into a nearby field – Fred recalls how quickly things escalated.
How it started
Fred attended what he calls the "legendary" Deben High School in Felixstowe – now being redeveloped into flats and mixed community use, he points out – and left sixth form at Christmas when his A-levels didn't go to plan. He swapped textbooks for an apprenticeship in Felixstowe's freight forwarding world.
"I spent a year or two between the warehouse and freight operations, got into e-commerce through Amazon, and then left after about a year to visit China and source products," he says.
The trip proved pivotal. Sourcing products directly lit the spark. He launched a brand, ran it from home and sold it during the pandemic – his first taste of building something from scratch.
But working solo had its limits.
Spotting the gap
In 2019, Fred started We Prep from his home in Trimley St Martin, along with co-founder and friend Arthur Horrigan.
"I started working from home," he says. "But it was more than just sitting on a laptop – it was a lonely game. So I got carried away and started building the business properly."
His timing was fortunate. He launched We Prep just as e-commerce logistics became one of the UK's fastest-growing sectors, with the market projected to grow from £427 billion to £707 billion by 2033.
He'd spotted a gap in the market: a specialist warehouse service for Amazon sellers who needed their products prepared correctly for Amazon's fulfilment network – everything from Fulfilment Network Stock Keeping Unit (FNSKU) labelling and poly bagging to compliance checks and shipment creation.
The first milestone was modest: sending boxes from his dining room table to his first customer. Then came the first lease, the first few employees. Before they knew it, the operation needed more space.
Growing faster than expected
Fred's first proper unit was 1,000 square feet. Within nine months, he moved to a second warehouse of 3,500 square feet with a team of seven. Six months later, they added a third unit of 10,000 square feet. The operation kept expanding, jumping to 32,000 square feet in Stowmarket in 2023.
"When I started, I didn't think it would be this big," Fred admits.
Today, We Prep operates from Raptor House in Stowmarket as headquarters for the Raptor Logistics Group. The company operates across three locations with specialist facilities for item-level rework, co-packaging and racked storage. We Ship Global Forwarding is now led by a seasoned operator brought in to handle international freight, while co-founder Arthur Horrigan brings additional industry experience.
Together, they built an end-to-end logistics solution from global freight forwarding to Amazon FBA (Fulfilment by Amazon) prep and direct-to-consumer fulfilment, supported by a cloud-based warehouse management system.
"Our client base is all over the world: China, USA, India, Dubai," Fred says.
"In terms of products, it's anything and everything: shampoo, toys, dog food. Anything you can find on Amazon. We handle it all."
Why businesses choose to outsource
Fred's model solves a real problem for e-commerce companies at every stage, from startups avoiding logistics complexity to established sellers who'd rather scale without staffing headaches.
"It's better for them to focus on selling and let us handle the rest," Fred says.
We Prep's pick-and-pack fulfilment integrates with major platforms including Shopify, Amazon, TikTok Shop and eBay. For Amazon sellers, the company offers one of the UK's leading FBA prep centres.
D&M acquisition 'puts us on the map'
After the Stowmarket move, Fred shifted strategy from leasing to acquiring.
"After we moved to Stowmarket, I started learning about acquisitions rather than just taking another lease," he explains. "It was quite chaotic. I had to park everything else and research how to find the right targets. That's how I came across D&M."
D&M Logistics Group operates from a 75,000 square foot warehouse on Raeburn Road in Gainsborough, Ipswich, minutes from the Port of Felixstowe, Britain's largest container port. The facility handles larger cargo – pilates equipment, beds and other bulky goods – adding scale to the group's existing item-level rework sites.
"D&M represents a big step for the group of companies," Fred says. "It puts us on the map. We're generally focused on e-commerce, so being here in this space is pretty big for us as a group. It's broadening our whole service operation and allowing us to do everything in-house. It's a statement – we're in a substantial facility now."
The acquisition, completed this month, brings five additional employees into the Raptor fold, with another three to five contractors on site at any time. We Prep and We Ship together employ around 25 people, bringing the current group total to approximately 35 staff across the three sites in Felixstowe, Ipswich and Stowmarket. Fred plans to hire another 15 to 20 people across the group as part of expansion plans.
From table football to real business
What started as "a bit of fun" with table football has evolved into something more substantial, though Fred's determined not to lose that original spirit.
"It started with table football and a bit of fun," he says. "It's a serious business, but we've kept that spirit. We're not a generic shipping company – we're fun, exciting, and people can actually grow with Raptor."
For Fred, success isn't measured purely in financial terms. "We're now doing £5 million turnover across the group. That's pretty cool when you think I started from scratch," he acknowledges.
"But honestly, the numbers don't really come into it for me. What I'm more proud of is that we've got 100,000 square feet across three sites and around 35 staff, with plans to grow the team significantly."
Building for the next acquisition
As Fred settles into the D&M acquisition, his priorities are clear: maintain customer relationships, fill the warehouse and integrate operations.
"Our immediate focus for Q4 is to maintain all our customers and not let anyone down," he says. "The short-term goal is to bring the group together – integrate D&M with We Ship, improve communication across the companies and grow as much as we can."
Staying agile in a sector where rising costs, regulatory pressures and supply chain volatility are constant challenges, Fred has made strategic acquisitions to support growth, with D&M representing the most significant to date.
"In three to five years, I'd like to do another acquisition," Fred says.
The bottom line
From a solitary start at his dining room table in Trimley to a three-site logistics group spanning 100,000 square feet, Fred Benfield's journey proves that sometimes the best business plans begin with a single box and a bit of belief.
At 32, he's built a genuinely substantial business, employing dozens of people and serving customers worldwide. His story demonstrates that traditional academic paths aren't the only route to success – sometimes you just need to spot the gap, take the risk and keep going.
