Operations run properly. Not another slide deck.
A 25-year operator, working inside your business part-time. For businesses that move physical product: retail and DTC brands, distributors and logistics operators that need the operation to perform, not another report about why it doesn't.
Start a conversation How it worksTwenty-five years on the operating side of retail, e‑commerce and distribution.
Seventeen years in operations
Inside one of the UK's biggest retail and online businesses, where stores, warehouses and home shopping all had to work as one.
Head of Operations
A £200m P&L and 4,500 people, running fulfilment for brands including ASOS, Sosandar and Secret Sales.
Interim COO
Senior operations leadership at an e‑commerce fulfilment business serving DTC brands including Step One.
Head of Operations
Consolidated three sites into a new 1 million sq ft national distribution centre in Rotherham, including the automation and robotics implementation.
Most growing businesses can't justify a full-time COO. Most of them still need one.
The gap shows up the same way every time: the owner pulled into daily firefighting, growth stalling at the point where informal management stops working, a board reviewing numbers nobody quite owns.
A fractional COO closes that gap at a fraction of the cost, with none of the recruitment risk.
Three ways to bring in the grip.
Fractional COO
Senior operations leadership on a part-time cadence: agreed days per month, clear deliverables, board-level reporting.
Fractional COO →Board Advisory & NED
An operator's voice in the boardroom: governance with a grip on the floor, for boards that want their numbers challenged by someone who has owned them.
Board Advisory →Programme Delivery
Ownership of the initiatives that stall without senior grip: site launches, warehouse system changes, network redesign, turnaround stabilisation.
Discuss a programme →What founders I've worked with say.
Rob brings a strong commercial mindset and a very practical, grounded approach to business. … it’s clear he has a solid understanding of both the financial and operational aspects of building and scaling businesses, particularly within a buy-and-build context. He asks the right questions, focuses on what matters, and adds clarity to discussions.
What sets him apart isn't advice, it's the questions and challenges. He takes the time to understand what's actually going on in a business before he says a word about what to do. … If you run a logistics business and you're feeling the pressure on margin or operational drag, Rob is the person you want in the room. He'll find what's actually broken and help you fix it.
I spent twenty-five years inside large operations: seventeen at Next, then Head of Operations at GXO, running a £200m P&L and 4,500 people. What I saw everywhere is that businesses don't usually fail on strategy. They fail on the Tuesday-morning version of the plan. The shift that wasn't covered. The number nobody owned. The decision that waited three weeks for a meeting.
RLP is built on one idea: growing businesses deserve the same operational grip large companies pay a full-time executive for, in the days per month they actually need. No junior consultants. No 80-slide decks. The person you meet is the person who does the work.
Run your own numbers first.
Calculators built on current verified UK figures: fractional vs full-time cost, day rates and more. No email required to use them.
Open the toolsGuides written for operators.
Practical guides with every statistic verified to a named primary source. Download what's useful.
Browse the libraryStraight answers.
What is a fractional COO?
A fractional COO is a senior operations leader who works inside your business part-time on an agreed monthly cadence, typically two to eight days per month, carrying real accountability for operational performance without the cost of a full-time executive.
What does RLP Advisory do?
RLP Advisory provides fractional COO support, board advisory and NED services, and hands-on programme delivery for businesses that move physical product, from retail and DTC brands to distributors and logistics operators. It is led by Rob Pegg, an operator with 25+ years of logistics and operations leadership including 17 years at Next and Head of Operations at GXO, running a £200m P&L and 4,500 people.
How is a fractional COO different from a consultant?
A consultant analyses and recommends; a fractional COO leads and delivers. RLP engagements involve owning priorities, leading teams, unblocking decisions and reporting to the board, with exit criteria agreed from day one.
What kind of business does RLP work with?
Businesses where the operation is what the customer actually experiences: retail and DTC brands, distributors, 3PL and logistics operators, and owner-managed or PE-backed businesses with sites, stock and shift teams. Large enough to need senior operational grip, not yet at the point where a full-time COO makes financial sense.
How does an engagement start?
With a short diagnostic: two to three days inside the operation looking at the numbers, the floor, the team and the customers, followed by a written view of what to fix first and a proposed 30-60-90 plan.
Twenty minutes. Honest answers.
A first conversation tells you whether fractional support fits, what it costs, and what it would target first. If it's not the right answer for your business, I'll say so.
Book a call