Food for Thought

Local neighborhood pet stores have accounted for approximately 4-5% of the estimated $38 billion dollars spent on pet food and treat sales sold so far in the U.S. in 2020. However small that might seem, independent pet stores still represent the best source for information, premium products, and services for consumers and their pets. One of the biggest challenges in growing independent pet’s share of the industry pie is customer acquisition. Meaning, how many customers businesses are able to gain and maintain walking through their doors, or shopping online with them on a regular and prolonged basis.

"Multi-laminate packaging" its a term you may or may not be familiar with, yet it is a very big part of your life. This term can be used to describe most if not nearly all of the packaging we see on pet store shelves. Although this packaging looks sleek, is eye catching on the shelf, and better protects product from being damaged during shipping, it is also much more difficult to recycle. So, what exactly is multi-laminate packaging? And how do we deal with its negative impact on the environment? Well, it just so happens that there is a new pilot program, finally rolling out in early August that aims to help consumers (and pet stores!) make a big impact when concerned with the issue of recycling in the pet industry. Let's take a look at what to expect!

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. It’s the mantra we’ve all heard, and while the first two are words in the mantra may be easy to understand, recycling just feels…gosh... so much more complicated. What can be recycled, and what cannot? And if not, why the heck not? We’ve seen headlines that China is rejecting recycling from around the world, that municipalities are cutting programs...so can we still recycle? Is it just wishful thinking if we do, or are we really making a difference? And since COVID-19 has basically infiltrated every single snapshot of our lives today, how has it impacted recycling?

As the local neighborhood pet store, you know that the pet parents in your community count on you for all of their pet’s needs. With the recent surge in pet food buying, it is more vital than ever to give your faithful customers the opportunity to support your business both in store and digitally, if they so choose. Having a solid e-commerce option to give customers an omni-channel buying experience increases the chances they will choose to shop with you over big box stores and online retail giants. It also opens up the door for curbside pick-up and local delivery options as your community and communities everywhere navigate through the coming weeks.

2019 has come to an end, it’s time now to look ahead to the new pet industry trends and opportunities that will be brought by the new year. Since 1994, American pet spending has continued to rise every single year – even during the 2007-2009 recession – reaching an estimated $72.13 billion in 2018 and is now projected to hit almost $100 billion by the end of the decade. which is, well... now. This continued increase in industry growth means an increase in opportunity for your pet business to grow as well. It also means lot more new innovation and more competition to keep customers happy and shopping with you all year long.

At Pet Food Experts, we are always focused on ways to improve our services for our vendors and customers. One way that we do this is by keeping up with the latest trends and technologies in warehousing and distribution of goods. Our goal is always to make the order and delivery process as seamless and stress-free as possible not only for our customers but also for our internal teams. That’s why in the summer of 2018, we invested in the Lydia voice-activated picking solution. This ground-breaking software helps us streamline our process and increase efficiency in our distribution centers across the country. It took our team months of strategic planning, strong teamwork, and rigorous training to get things just right, but the rewards for both our operations teams and independent pet retail partners have been worth the wait.