Online sales surge 3,000%! The pet economy is on the rise

Firehouse Pet Shop , located in Wenatchee, Washington , offers healthy pet food and treats, dog and cat supplies, gifts, a self-service wash spa, dog and cat grooming supplies and cat adoption services.

Firehouse Pet Shop’s shift to a digital strategy and focus on serving the local market has yielded huge results , with the pet supply store increasing online sales by 3,000% through curbside pickup and local marketing strategies , according to Cision PR Newswire .

At first, Firehouse Pet Shop tried to dropship products directly from the warehouse, but its online sales struggled to reach only a few thousand dollars a year. Then, they turned to partnering with new media retailers to shift from a direct sales strategy to better utilize their stores. Firehouse Pet Shop owners Jennifer and Allen Larsen focused on store pickup and local delivery, and even launched a local subscription delivery service for pet food . After a few months, its online sales flourished.

It is understood that the goals of Jennifer and Allen's local marketing strategy are to provide convenient online ordering options , focus on serving the local market by providing delivery services, increase average sales per customer, attract more local customers who shop at large stores or e-retail competitors, highlight their competitive prices, establish internal infrastructure to control inventory and delivery processes, and increase guerrilla marketing efforts.

The new media retailer worked hands-on with Jennifer to rebuild their website. The project involved resetting their product catalog, updating the checkout with curbside pickup, local delivery, and subscribe and save fulfillment options.

Additionally, Jennifer and Allen worked with a dedicated marketing specialist at New Media Retail to adjust their marketing strategy. Their new local marketing efforts included email marketing, employee sales training, mailings, updated in-store signage, etc. They began offering themed mystery gift boxes that contained samples, snacks, toys, and rich gifts for monthly subscriptions or one-time purchases.

To be sure, Firehouse Pet Shop's online sales exceeded $300,000 last year, which shows that there is huge room for development of online sales in the pet industry in the United States, and Firehouse Pet Shop 's strategic shift has laid the foundation for its success.

In addition, it is predicted that the pet industry expenditure in the United States will reach nearly $110 billion in 2021. US consumer spending has increased year by year, increasing by more than 500% between 1994 and 2020. In the United States, the increase in the popularity of pets in households is one of the reasons driving the increase in pet industry expenditure .

In 2020, pet food was the top-selling product category in the pet market and is expected to maintain its top position in 2021, with sales expected to reach approximately $44 billion . Veterinary care and supplies /OTC drugs ranked second and third, with expected sales of approximately $32 billion and $23 billion, respectively. Within the pet food sector, dry dog ​​food is the top-selling product type, followed by dry cat food and wet cat food.

In summary, as a major pet economy country, the United States has a very broad market prospect for pet merchants in e-commerce channels.

USA

Pet Economy

E-commerce

Online Sales