About Cordley Solutions
Who you would be working with
Cordley Solutions is a young UK retail business. We source established consumer brands and supply them to buyers through the major online marketplaces. We are early in our journey, and we would rather tell you that plainly than dress it up. What follows is who runs the company, where it came from, and how we mean to work.
- FoundedMay 2026
- RegisteredEngland & Wales
- Company No.17195360
- DirectorsTwo
Where the name comes from
Cordley comes from cordial
The name was a deliberate choice, not a random one. Cordial means warm, friendly, straightforward to deal with. That is the standard we want the business held to, by suppliers and buyers alike.
In practice it comes down to something simple and checkable: we reply to every genuine enquiry within one working day. Not a chatbot, not a ticket number, a real answer from the person running the company.
Every enquiry answered within one working day
Our story
How Cordley Solutions started
Cordley was founded by Reiss Johnson in 2026, after a route into e-commerce that did not go to plan the first time.
Reiss came to it from finance. He graduated from Coventry University in 2023 with a first-class degree in Business Management, and took his best marks in the supply-chain module, the part of the course that stuck. He then spent two and a half years in the finance function of a FTSE 100 company, working through profitability, cashflow and reporting, and studying towards his chartered management accountant qualification alongside the job. It taught him how a business actually makes or loses money, which turns out to be the useful half of running one.
He started in e-commerce the way a lot of people do: buying retail stock to resell online, a few hundred pounds at a time. It did not take long to hit the ceiling. New sellers run into approval barriers on the big platforms, some of the stock proved hard to move, and the whole model depended on chance more than judgement. He could have pushed harder against it. Instead he stopped and asked whether the model itself was wrong.
It was, for what he wanted to build. So he changed direction on purpose, away from opportunistic reselling and towards buying established brands at wholesale and building direct relationships with the people who make and distribute them. That decision is the reason Cordley exists in the shape it does today.
The change was not a hunch. Over about four months he analysed hundreds of products, worked out what genuinely sold and at what margin, and built his own spreadsheets for product analysis and supplier due diligence. Children's toys were the first category he looked at seriously, then ruled out: too seasonal, too discount-driven, too volatile to build on. What was left were categories with steady, everyday demand, which is where Cordley works now: household, health and beauty, personal care, and general FMCG.
That is the honest version. A short history, a real setback, and a deliberate decision about how to grow from here.
The people
The people behind Cordley Solutions
Two directors run the company. On a business this size that matters: you always know exactly who you are dealing with.
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Reiss Johnson
Founder & Director
Reiss started and runs Cordley Solutions, and holds the majority of the company. He leads sourcing, supplier relationships and day-to-day operations. His background is the reason the business is run the way it is: finance first, evidence over guesswork.
- First-class BA (Hons) Business Management, Coventry University (2023)
- Top marks in supply-chain management on the course
- Two and a half years in FTSE 100 finance, ending as a management accountant
- Part-qualified chartered management accountant (CIMA)
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Henry Corben
Director
Henry is a co-director and a shareholder, and a friend of Reiss since they were twelve. His focus right now is on completing his professional qualifications, so his current involvement is part-time by design.
- Company administration and financial matters
- Growing into product sourcing and supplier relationships over time
- A second accountable director on the public record
What we value
What Cordley Solutions values
Five words that are easy to print and harder to live up to. Here is what each one actually means in how we work.
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Integrity
Genuine products through legitimate supply, accurate listings, and no claim we cannot stand behind. If we are not sure, we say so.
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Reliability
We reply within one working day, do what we said we would, and would rather under-promise than let a supplier down.
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Growth
Steady and deliberate, not headlong. We add lines and relationships we can genuinely support, and no faster than that.
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Customer focus
Every order handled properly: right product, honest condition, packed well and dispatched on time. The unglamorous part done right.
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Partnership
We build a small number of relationships properly rather than signing up everyone. The aim is a partner you keep, not a transaction.
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Focus
A deliberately narrow range in steady, everyday categories. We would rather know a few things well than chase every trend, so we leave the volatile lines alone.
Where we are now
Honest about the stage we are at
We are at the beginning. The company is registered, the groundwork is done, supplier conversations are underway, and we are building the first relationships now. We are not going to pretend to be bigger than we are, because a supplier finds that out quickly and it costs more than it earns.
What we can promise is the part that is entirely in our control: a real, named, UK-registered company; a director who answers the phone; careful selection; and every order handled properly. The ambition has not changed since day one, which is to build a professional, long-term retail business that suppliers and customers trust for years, not weeks.
If you are weighing us up as a partner, that is exactly the right instinct. Take a look at how we work and what we handle, and get in touch when you are ready.