The RetailWire Podcast
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The RetailWire Podcast
Blending Passion for Pets and the Power of Retail: A Conversation with PetSmart's Kristin Shane
What happens when you mix the passion for pets and the power of retail? Meet Kristin Shane, Chief Merchandising Officer at PetSmart, who's going to share her insights on this compelling synergy. With her rich career history, including consulting at Accenture and running diverse departments at Target, Kristin unveils some powerful narratives on the resilient pet industry during the pandemic. Did you know that people's emotional bond with their pets led to an increased demand for pet accessories and travel products? Interesting, right?
Now, imagine entering a store where your furry friend is more than welcome to choose their own treats or toys. That's the immersive in-store pet experience that PetSmart has to offer. Kristin and I discuss the strategic benefits of having 1600 store locations, the valuable services they provide to pet parents, and how they've adapted amidst the volatile market. We also explore the world of quality pet products and how PetSmart is committed to delivering value for money while resonating with pet owners' values.
But that's not all! Kristin will also shed light on PetSmart's footprint in the community. Their active role in supporting pet care, through initiatives like PetSmart Charities and the Chance and Lucky line of stuffed animal toys, is truly admirable. Plus, get ready to dive into the future of PetSmart and their proprietary brand Arcadia Trail, designed for adventurous pets and pet parents. So, plug in your headphones and join us on this fascinating journey into the world of pets and retail.
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Follow Kristin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinshane/
Learn more about PetSmart, including how to join their 60million+ Treats Rewards members, here: https://www.petsmart.com/
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Welcome to the Retail Wire Podcast.
Speaker 2:Hey everyone, welcome back to another exciting episode here on the Retail Wire Podcast. My name is Brian, I'm your host and, joining me in the studio today, I've got a really fun conversation. If you are a pet owner or pet parent however you want to call yourself if you love furry friends, then this show is for you. This podcast is for you because, joining me in the studio today, I have a guest who knows a thing or two about pets and merchandising for them. I've got Kristin Shane. She is the chief merchandising officer for PetSmart, so let's jump in. I'm just going to roll right into this, kristin. Welcome to the show. How are you doing today?
Speaker 3:I'm great, brian. Thanks so much for having me. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2:This is exciting. This is really good. I'm loving this because I mean, I love pets right, we were talking a little off camera and I love pets. I've got my dogs. I'm specifically a dog guy. I don't have a thing against cats, but I'm a dog guy, right. So pets are good friends, they're great to have around, right. So I can't imagine being in a position like the chief merchandising officer, being able to be around the pet category and pet world all the time. Tell us a little bit about who you are and how you got into this.
Speaker 3:No, I appreciate it. I am also a pet person and you mentioned furry friends. I will say we love furry friends, but we also love scaly friends. We love fish feather trends we love all the pets, so not just dogs and cats all of them.
Speaker 2:And you bring up a great point. Y'all have an incredible assortment of stuff available, right? Like I'm not doing a sales pitch here, but like legit, I am blown away every time I walk into the PetSmart here in Rogers, arkansas, at just the vast volume of what y'all have. So before we go too far down that, I gotta say how'd you get in? This is just. It's really a cool area to be in.
Speaker 3:No, I appreciate it. Pet is a really fun business to be in and I have to say, just even in our office, like you come to work and everybody brings their dog to work, we even have cats here. I remember my first day I've been at PetSmart now about four years my first day in the office I saw this like plastic ball sort of rolling around the office and there's a hamster. I mean we are, they're all here, snakes, you name it, they're here. We love pets. I usually I have two dogs one I have a Frenchie named Archie, and then I have a Vichela named Derubi. I usually bring the Vichela to work.
Speaker 3:We were talking earlier. I didn't bring her today, it was a little bit of a crazy day. But we have a dog park here on campus. Like we sort of live the life here and we'll talk a lot about the products and the merchandising. We test everything here. It's really easy to do because all the pets are in the office and so if I showed you like I have a dog bed, I have crates, I have toys, like they're sort of everywhere, so it's a really fun place to be.
Speaker 3:You know I haven't been in Pet my whole career, though my career has basically been in retail, and when you're in retail you find yourself in a lot of different businesses. So I spent the majority of my retail career at Target, but I started in consulting at Accenture. I've run a lot of different businesses in retail, including Candy. I actually ran the pet business at Target in 2008,. You know I ran the movie business. I ran a number of grocery businesses, I ran the beauty business. So retail is really about just really understanding the consumer and understanding where the consumer is at and how you solve problems for her, and so if you can figure that out, you can usually be successful. And in the pet business the emotional connection, as you said, that you have to your pets is huge. So it's a great, it's a really fun business to be in.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, no, absolutely. I know. Recently we did an article on retail wire and it was talking about how you know how pets feel the effects of any recession. Right, not just like the recession, but like any downturn in economy. And it's like no, we're so protective of our friends and our pets that usually the family pet will never know that you're not going to change their food because of you know you're going to adjust your own food probably first. Yeah, and it's just really funny how we do that.
Speaker 3:So yeah, pet has been a really resilient category. We know about 68% of households have pets and even through you alluded to the pandemic boom where everybody has a pet. The 68% has sort of held. True. It's just now. How many pets do you have, Brian?
Speaker 2:Ah, yeah. So everybody amplified the number one, so now everybody added to their sort of family.
Speaker 3:So now they have two dogs instead of one dog, or they added some fish, or they added a you know bearded dragon, you know whatever suits your fancy. So the household penetration has remained pretty consistent. It's just number of pets.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what's what is? I'm going to take a rabbit trail for just a second and say what is one of the most unique pets that you have seen just in around the office there. That is like you know. You mentioned bearded dragons and things like that. Yeah, like what has been one of the most unique things that you've seen around there.
Speaker 3:Um, I have a few answers for that, I guess. I just was not prepared to be in an office where there were snakes. Okay, like I mean, you spend most of your career thinking about you know how you hone your executive presence and you know you kind of keep a cool head and like you see a snake and you're like, what is that? So, so that's one. I think another unique one is, um, and don't judge, because all pet parents love their pets, just like you love, shadow and rogue. Okay, so we sell tarantulas.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 3:There are pet parents.
Speaker 2:I was going to ask you as a cockroach, because I've seen people have pet cockroaches like the big ones and I'm like that's actually impressive. The things that they're capable of doing is actually impressive. So not for me.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yes, and so you know. And then, when you think about aquatics, we sell shrimp, we sell, you know, tons of different species of fish. So there's a lot, there's a lot there.
Speaker 2:If I ever owned a pet shrimp, I would have to name him Pepe after the uh, the Muppets. Right, I'm just, I'm a Muppet fan. I love them, so I would definitely have to do that.
Speaker 3:That's awesome.
Speaker 2:So so you came in to, so you said you've run Pet at Target. You've been involved in a lot of different roles, though right, in retail that's. I think that's one of the coolest things I continue to hear from any guest is just how flexible the world of retail is and like how dynamic it can be where, hey, if you're, you're either wanting a shift or maybe there just needs to be a shift based on demand. You're able to kind of go back and forth and you're able to move around laterally or up and down, and now you find yourself as the chief merchandising officer here at PetSmart, which, again, I just think is super cool. So you actually get to be the one kind of tell me if I'm wrong. You're kind of picking out what is getting ready to be shelved and kind of like what, those new trends? You're keeping an eye on all that, and I'd imagine you go to shows and everything that you're. You're really out there on that front end, right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely it's. You know, I have an amazing team that does a phenomenal job really keeping pulse on what pet parents want. And look, I think in retail you're right. Like you know, most retail executives have experienced running a lot of different businesses and every every marketplace has its own unique challenges.
Speaker 3:But, you know, I think the mantra that I try and instill is it's just, it's it's just understanding the consumer and solving problems for them, and so, to the extent that we can keep it that simple, we know we'll win. And so, you know, our mission is to deepen the bond between pets and pet parents. And, yeah, you're right, we get to decide, like, what are the products that help us do that? And so I'm excited to talk about some of the things that we've got in the store and online to help us do that. And look, as a, as a as a retail executive, you take some swings and hopefully they work, but sometimes they don't, and you just keep going and and putting things out there that you think are going to resonate with, in my case, with pet parents.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, so let's go back. You mentioned you mentioned a while ago, you know, obviously we talked pandemic stuff because that shifted buying. You know buying patterns for everybody, right, and not just pet category everything. So it was crazy to see that. But when I think you know, and you actually touched already on one of the questions I was going to have was you know what, what happened during the pandemic to pet owners and you know you said they, they grow, they grew their family, right, so it's your home more, you're able to go out more. I think everybody had a really great amount of flexibility and I think that was, honestly, I think that's one of the coolest things that came out of the pandemic. Really, if I'm being honest, I think that's one of the coolest things is seeing how many, how many meetings could have been emails.
Speaker 2:And we totally call walking our dog or playing with the bird or whatever else, and like you're able to have fun, and so that you know I could see that people. Yeah, just just wanting to bring it in what. What? Was there anything that was surprising, that kind of jumped out during the pandemic that maybe you know? Obviously, the the growth of the pet family is one thing, but was there anything that was like surprising to you guys about? You know, once you really started seeing different trends emerging during that time or or what?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so there are two. There are two trends that sort of that we saw, that emerged through the pandemic, one of which has stuck. The other is something that was sort of unique to that time that we've had to manage through. So I'll start with that one, because it's not as fun.
Speaker 2:Okay, all right.
Speaker 3:So when people were home they sort of made two decisions. They were, or sometimes they made both decisions right.
Speaker 3:So when you're home with Shadow and Rogue you're like oh, shadow needs a new collar, or like her bed's looking a little shabby, or so, like you, the consumer bought a lot more discretionary items because they were with their pets all the time, and so the toys business, the collar business, the bed's business, all those sort of discretionary businesses saw just a huge amount of growth, and so part of that was you went from one dog to two dogs or one cat to two cats, but part of it was I have to look at the bed and I see that like it's just more obvious to me that Well, yeah, that they need a new one.
Speaker 2:You're saying that's more worn right. You started seeing the things that previously you were probably in and out. You're feeding them, you're taking them outside, you're letting them have some play time, and then you're like, oh, that's not a big deal. But then you're like, oh, I guess that rope pulley is pretty worn out. Or like you're saying, the bed is kind of it has a little divot in the middle and it's probably not as comfy for them and, okay, they're a little more restless at night, or something like that. So I could see that. I could definitely see that.
Speaker 3:So you translate that into okay. So what does that mean for, like a retailer or a team? So we're chasing into that demand because that was something that we didn't anticipate, right Like when COVID hit. Like I would have been fired if I would have been.
Speaker 3:Like our business is gonna go bonkers, like everybody was just like batting down the hatches Nobody was clear on what was happening, and so, you know, I think for us it was like okay, we're now seeing this behavior from pet parents, so we're chasing into this business, a lot of which is produced overseas, and so the team did everything that they could to maximize the business. And now here we are. You know, I'm back in the office, a lot of people are back in the office, most of us are still flexible, and I agree with your comment like that's.
Speaker 3:One thing that I think is a blessing from the pandemic is we sort of realized a new sort of balance. But I don't look at the shabby bed every single day, and so we're seeing that business soften a little bit. It's more discretionary. We're in an environment now where inflation is a significant factor, and so you know, managing through that is just sort of what we do. So that is one trend. The other trend that has stuck, which I'm really excited about, is if you think about pre-pandemic, we had this category called travel, and it was like kind of utilitarian.
Speaker 3:It was like, you know, this is the bag, the black bag that you have to buy for the dog if you're going to take them on the plane, or you know, here's the sort of utilitarian seat belt harness that you're going to put on the duck.
Speaker 3:Well, going through COVID, we've decided we want to take our pet everywhere and make it cute, because I don't want the black carrier, I want something that looks cute and fun, whether it's. You know, I want to take my pet with me to the soccer practice, so I want to make sure they've got a cooling mat and a sunshade. Or I'm going to travel with my pet and so I want to make sure the carrier meets my lifestyle and the aesthetic of my dog. So that business, like we call it, we call it pet on the go. It's really evolved from the sort of utilitarian travel business to take my dog to brunch and then we're going shopping and we may go, you know, to the park, and so what are all the accessories that we want to make sure to prep our pet parents to have a successful date with their pet, and that is not something that we thought about pre-pandemic.
Speaker 2:Well, no, and I think that's you're nailing it there. I think that's where I've seen so many more people taking their pets out, right, and that has continued. Like you said, that's not something that just went away after the pandemic died down and people start going back to work. They're like, no, I'm taking the dog or the cat, or you know, I've seen people walking around with a macaw, you know like, come on, let's just walk around, and it's just really cool to see that there's a lot more function or a lot more form to the function now, you know, and so I think that's really cool to see, because, you know, one thing that's spring to mind there was it doesn't matter if you're a guy, girl, it doesn't matter Like you want to.
Speaker 2:I see people that really want to accessorize that match their pet right, and so you have a human category and you have a pet category, and thankfully there's some product. You know manufacturers out there that are like, hey, what if we got together with you and suddenly you can look just like your little friend? And so I love stuff like that. I'm a total nerd whenever it comes to that. Like people see me, they see the beard and like, oh, rough and tumble guy, and it's like I can be, but I still love that. It's like I got that soft spot.
Speaker 3:You're not afraid to put a dog in a backpack and.
Speaker 2:No, no, when I was, when I was actually stuck at home during that time, one of the biggest things that I did see come across my Instagram feed was I cannot remember the name of them, but it's it's a backpack bag for your dog and it's like it's really perfect, and so it keeps them all nice and safe. It keeps them tucked in where they're not clawing at you. They can feel secure because you know, if anybody's ever carried a large dog, you know that they get really nervous and really scared and then they can hurt you or hurt themselves, you know, by flopping and floundering to get out, and so the bags that I saw were just so impressive because you know, I've got friends with Huskies. They want to take their dogs out somewhere, but they also know they can't just let the dog walk loose in certain spaces, right, like there's certain spaces that you just don't want to trust Husky to be still in Right.
Speaker 2:And so I think that's super cool. That's really awesome. I just I love seeing that. And I think the other thing that came to mind with dog on the go, have you seen? There's a picture floating around the internet I'm sure there's tons of them at this point, but I think it was at New York that has the no dogs on sub subways rule unless they can fit in a bag. Yes, and I saw somebody with like 120 pound.
Speaker 2:Husky in a Ikea bag with holes out. Yes, and the dog's literally standing on the ground and the person has the bag on their shoulder and it's just perfect.
Speaker 3:And I think it just speaks to like parents will go to such huge lengths to like keep their pet with them.
Speaker 2:And look, it's in a bag. It's going.
Speaker 3:Yeah Well, and you're even seeing now, like, like, just even business owners restaurants are just far more liberal and letting. I mean they've just become part of our lives, which I love.
Speaker 2:Well, exactly, it's like I think they've. They've stuck very firm where they need to be, like you know, none in food prep spaces.
Speaker 2:But otherwise it's like you know big deal, especially if it's like a cafe with like a little front sidewalk area or like an entry area. Have fun, yeah, bring them. Yeah, they're well behaved. As long as they're well behaved, you know, treat the, treat the pets the same way as a kid. As long as you're well behaved, come on in, right, but well, that's awesome. So you've seen some really cool trends happen and I think that's it's so funny, like I was. One of my biggest questions for you was just like what happened during that time? Because I know it turned the whole world upside down. And so now you're, you're kind of we're, we're moving past the pandemic, right, and we're headed into what's what's currently going on at PetSmart. Like, is there, is there any projects that you guys are really that you're specifically super pumped about any initiatives or anything for that customer experience, right? Like we're coming back and people, I would imagine you're seeing shopper numbers go up in the stores, right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, for sure, you know. I for us, you know, if, if the mission is always to keep pace with the customer and make sure that you're solving problems and we call our customer her, so it's predominantly female, obviously we have male customers, but but I think if that's our mission just to continue to solve problems for the customer there are tons of initiatives that the buying teams specifically are focused on to make sure that we do that well. So, for example, if you walked into our stores today, we're starting to set Halloween, which I cannot believe it. It's only, it's only August 14th, but you know Two year earlier point.
Speaker 3:You know we want our pets in our lives for everything, and so we want to take them with us. You know trick-or-treating, or we want them to be part of the holiday, and so you know we've got costumes. We've got safety, that you know, lights that we can put on the dog to make sure that they're safe when they're trick-or-treating. We have a back to school assortment. You know, if you went into our stores in the summer, we had a huge like Sprinkler selection that your dog could run through over the site like a slip-and-slide I mean there. So we just Try and really, you know we have a huge assortment of products. Obviously, food is our biggest business, but. But the bond between Pet and pet parent comes to life in those sort of moments like oh, of course I'm gonna buy the hot dog costume for Ruby this year. Like, of course.
Speaker 3:I'm gonna make sure that my dog has an ugly sweater for the Christmas picture, right? Of course, I'm gonna make sure that when we get into January, she's got the like Funny sort of dumbbell toy, because we're all trying to get in shape, and so those are the kinds of things that the team is like forever thinking about, like what is going on in the Mind of the pet parent right now that we want to make sure that we're relevant for. So it's, it's things like that. I would also say, you know this, the pet industry is incredibly resilient because, to your earlier point, these are our the.
Speaker 3:We treat, we treat our pets like kids. So it's not like, you know, if we're going into a recession or inflation is high or we have to start paying back our student loans next month, or whatever the scenario is, we're gonna De-prioritize the pet, but we are in a significant inflationary environment and we are seeing the market start to contract a little bit. Okay, and so for us, it's less about you know she's pulling back, and more about okay, well, let's design into More value price points. So, for example, our costumes last year were 2499.
Speaker 3:Okay we started to see an economic contraction and inflation start to go up and we were like, wow, gas is really Expensive, eggs, bread, milk really expensive. We can't like we are not doing our jobs if she is choosing not to put the dog in a hot to hot dog costume because it's too expensive. So this year, the hot dog costumes 99, 1999. It's still super cute, you'll still. Love all yeah, exactly go get it now.
Speaker 3:Let's get it so the team that's focused on, like, how do we just bring Retails down so that, so that it's it's an easier purchase for her and she?
Speaker 3:can still celebrate those moments Her dog food. No matter where you're buying it is more expensive this year than it was last year, and so it's up to us to figure out how to engineer retails. Most, you know, a third of our business is proprietary brand, which means we design it, we source it, we are over, we have offices in Asia, but you know that are helping to manufacture the goods, and so we get to say, hey, how do we make the hot dog costume five dollars less and then go do it, which is really exciting.
Speaker 2:That's really cool, like I think I didn't realize that a third of your businesses is proprietary. That's fantastic. So I mean that that gives you so much more creativity, right, that gives you more, more flexibility and like, oh my goodness yeah then we don't have to wait for manufacturers to figure it out.
Speaker 3:We can actually go, do it ourselves and our proprietary brands are in every single category we play in, whether it's you know, food or you know in aquatics. We, the top Brand in aquatics in the whole marketplace, is top fin and that's our proprietary brand.
Speaker 2:So really yeah. Okay, okay so.
Speaker 3:So we, we pride ourselves on that, but we also recognize the responsibility we have to the customer to make sure that, yes, a third of it is proprietary brand. And I challenge you to go in our stores. You, you should, you should look at our proprietary brands and and then my hope is, I'm sure you'll have some feedback because you're a discerning customer. But my hope is you say to me, kristen, every single proprietary brand set a great value, whether it's our authority, science, food, whether it's toys, whether I mean we, that is our mission to deliver Incredible quality at an amazing value.
Speaker 2:Well, and and you do that, I think you know to your earlier point too, you know you talking about we're in such this crazy inflationary period right now. I Just the thing that popped out you know that I heard from you there was your customers, your shoppers, your friends have enough to worry about right now. The hot dog costume shouldn't be one of those things, right, like, shouldn't be something to worry about. And so you guys are taking that, taking that and reducing that barrier to still have fun, still be able to enjoy your pet, still be able to care for him in such a great way. And it's like, okay, yeah, we can, we can trim this a little bit, we can, we can adjust over here, we can shift this, and I I think that's really good. That's one thing that I have always been and I'm not just saying this because we're on the show now but like that is one thing I've always been impressed with that smart and everything. It always just seems to flow really well together and the stores and the people that are there seem to genuinely care about that whole pet experience, right, and so it's funny.
Speaker 2:You Said you look for everything to be a great value, and that is where in my brain, you know you think private label and there's other great value private labels out there but Used to, used to you thought of of a private label maybe being you know, cheap, you know, and you and you thought of it being not as good quality. And I gotta say I've seen some of the private label stuff in your stores and it is incredible, like it's, there's, there's an equal match, right, there's nothing. You're not lacking in quality anywhere. I think that's super great because and you know, I think you we've seen and we're continuing to see the rise of private label really making an impact in stores and being able to kind of just To really offer that more custom experience to each store, right, yeah, no, I think that's right and I think you nailed it like that.
Speaker 3:That has to be Sort of table stakes and it can't be. It can't be cheap. Like, our customer is super savvy, you know, she like, and, and she shops with this in her hand, with her phone in her hand, right?
Speaker 3:and so if she, you know, obviously we are an omni business, but you know it's a little less than 10% of our total sales.
Speaker 3:So Petsmart, we pride ourselves on the experience. We have 1,600 stores and Part of the role of the store is not just to be a place where she can go replenish your bag of food. But if you walk into any Petsmart store at the center aisle we call the drive aisle is always every single 365 days a year. It is always the fun, the seasonal, the unexpected, the, the moment where you're like, oh man, like I, I can't not buy this. I, you know, this is, this, is gonna be so fun and and just that sort of sparks joy moment. And so it can't be cheap. Like it just can't be cheap because you know there are a million other retailers out there that can do that Cheap. We want to make sure that it's something that, even though it's only 1999, like it's a custom, that she can wear a year over year and maybe next year instead of the hot dog she's gonna keep that in her arsenal, but like upgrade to the sushi roll or whatever you know.
Speaker 2:So it can't be cheap well, and and the same thing too, you know, going back to the point of taking care of our pets, taking care of our little friends, is that you, you obviously don't want to make things cheap from a from a material standpoint either, because you're protecting them right, like exactly actually happened. You got, you got chewing, you got tearing, you got Scratching and everything else, and so you know you want to make sure that your friends stay, say, good and safe, and a stitch coming out Doesn't lead to them, you know, choking or anything else like that. And so I've always been impressed by, just again, the quality and just kind of that whole pet experience is what I kind of refer to it as, just like I know that I can walk in, get what I need. You know, if I got questions, you got knowledgeable people. It's so good.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2:You held up your device a while ago, and that was one thing too is like, I would imagine, as we kind of head into this more tech-centric world, right and we're we're. Obviously the pandemic pushed everything forward, but, like I think, as we see things that we're getting more involved with now, right it, a lot of our lives Kind of exist around a phone. Is that kind of, would you say, that's one of your challenge areas, that you're kind of looking at how to engage people more or kind of what are some challenges facing that smart at this point? I know we talked inflation, everything, but is there anything else that that maybe is kind of coming down the pipeline for?
Speaker 3:you, I think. I think you know Consumers are incredibly discerning. They value value, but they also value convenience, and so you know we're never gonna out Amazon, amazon. That's not what we're trying to do. You know. Our advantage is about the experience, and you know 1600 stores. We are less than five miles from about 75% of our pet parents.
Speaker 3:So we're so you want to say convenient, like she can order it on her device and pick it up from our store in less than an hour. But the truth is, when you talk to our pet parents, they like coming to the store and typically they come with their pet and they have that moment, even if it's just 15 minutes, like you'll see them walking down the treat aisle and the dogs like, sniffing all the different like bones and choosing the one that he wants. Right, that's what you do with your dog. Or even in the toy aisle. They're like, you know, throwing it and seeing what the dog likes or doesn't like, like that for us, is like that connection is what we're after.
Speaker 3:And that doesn't mean, you know, digital is going to continue to be incredibly important. You know we still have a big digital business. It is still a huge focus for us and that is and that. But it is really about the sort of totality of the experience. You know we have a really big services business and so you can bring shadow to pet smart to get groomed. You can, you know, bring her for a play date for the day. We have hotels, we have training, and so it's a really tactile experience. About half of our of our retail stores have a vet inside of them and so it isn't. We don't want just a transactional relationship. Yeah, we really want to build that whole relationship and really for the total care of the pet.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. And that was the thing too is like you started naming stuff off. I knew like probably three of those things and I was just like, but you just kept going. And it's like I don't think people realize especially you know folks who are maybe newer pet owners, you know or growing into a different pet, you know kind of pet or different breed or something. It's like you know I don't think people realize just how many things are available at pet smart and so I think, to your point, it's like every time I go in it's like I feel like I see something new, right, right.
Speaker 2:And it's like you know, having your mention in play dates, you're mentioning training and I will say I even remember it's been a while since I've been in whenever they were doing a training session, but I remember the one here. It was very, very impressive the level of trainers that y'all have as well, because you know, I think a lot of people would probably it'd be easy to think, oh, okay, it's just, it's a kind of a just a basics course, you know, or something like that. And you do have the basics course, but you also have some trainers who really, really know what they're doing in behavioral, like conditioning and stuff and just really getting dialing in some really cool tricks, really neat behaviors. And you know they're also invested in pet training throughout the rest of the community too. So it's not just someone you only see in the store, you see them actually out in the public and doing their thing and I just think that's really awesome.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it is, and I think you know you asked about some of the hurdles that were sort of overcoming and it you know, driving the digital capabilities is something that we're very focused on, but I think the biggest hurdle right now not just for Petsmart but for, like, for all of retail is it just continues to be a really volatile environment you know like inflation is still high.
Speaker 3:There's still uncertainty. You know there's just a lot going on in the mind of the consumer and and the markets don't like uncertainty. The consumer doesn't like uncertainty, right, and so it's. Our job is to make sure that we're I always say, like we're solving the problems for the pet parent, but we're doing it in a way that allows us to deliver short term results but have our eye on, like where we're headed for the long term and making sure that we continue to invest in capabilities, whether it's digital or loyalty at. You know, we have 60 million pet parents in our loyalty program. It's huge and it's I mean it's 60. Yes, Huge.
Speaker 3:And so continuing to build out capabilities just to drive that engagement is something that continues to be really important, and so, for us, it's about responding in the moment but investing for the longer term, and that's really, I think, for all of retail, what we're trying to figure out today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, let me ask you something. This was this not? It's kind of in the notes, but also not really in the notes. Like you know, one of the things that we've seen and we've kind of been doing some reporting on lately I know a lot of pet smarts are in shopping malls or shopping centers, right, and so I think for a while there or you know, at least mall adjacent, I should say that, like, I think for a while you know, over the last what 20 years or so, malls kind of took a downturn. But one thing we're seeing and that we've been reporting on is that malls are kind of making a comeback in that physical presence.
Speaker 2:To your point, like I think people saw the excitement of digital and were like, oh cool, I don't have to go out and see stuff. But then the more you're in a digital only environment, you really want the Omni experience, right, and you want to be able to go out and take the dog, I want to take shadow down the aisle and go hey, which one do you actually want? I'm spending money on this. I want to make sure you actually enjoy it, right, and so I'll take her in, I'll let her run down there. You know she finds a treat, if she finds a ball, if whatever, we'll sit there and play with it for a second. And I always feel like the kid. That's like riding the bike in Walmart and it's like should I really be doing this? Yes, it's, it's, you're trying to make sure that it's size. Yes, it works the way you want it to work.
Speaker 2:So I think you know, have you seen? Is there any resurgence that you're seeing in those specifically like the retail center, like the shopping center areas? Are more people coming back, or is that what's the trend that you're seeing there?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think you know we are really lucky in that when we built out the 1600 stores, we really looked at where and obviously over the last 20 years you've seen that evolve. You've seen people sort of go more suburbs and then come back more urban. We have an incredibly diverse portfolio and it really is focused on where the pet parents are. So, yes, we are seeing a resurgence in the shopping mall. Yes, we're also seeing a resurgence into urban centers. So, you know, we have smaller formats in really big cities. I mean, we have a store in the middle of downtown New York, so we have a format that is flexible enough that it can be responsive given what's happening with the local demographic. But we're fortunate in that, as we've expanded over time, we've we've, I will say, not been penny wise and pound foolish, meaning we'll spend a little bit more to be in a more resilient shopping area that has retail that you know is going to stand the test of time, which means that you don't put a store there and then, 20 years later, you regret it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and you're bailing out at that point and then then you're trying to backfill a hole, You're trying to figure out how to help the employees that you brought in at that point Exactly. It can, it can be very, it can be very weighty, right. You know those decisions. That is one thing I can honestly say. I don't, I don't recall. This is totally off script. I don't recall the last time I saw a PetSmart go out of anywhere.
Speaker 3:Yeah, there are very many, there aren't very many, and part of that is because we recognize a couple of things. One is we recognize the responsibility that we have to the community and if you go in a PetSmart like our, our associates know the pets and know the pets and parents, oh yeah, and. And they will say, if you come in without shadow, they will literally say to you tell shadow. I said hello. I mean they are there. That is what they are ingrained in the community.
Speaker 2:And that's something that they take really seriously.
Speaker 2:Well, and it's funny because you go to, you know, if you go to any of your competitors not the would ever have done that in the past accidentally. But if you do go into some of the competitors, right, you specifically, let's say, supermarkets that may dabble in fish occasionally, they really they don't know, they don't know it's, it's somebody who doesn't care. They got stationed in that area for that time. I will not forget that there was a girl that was helping me last time. My son wanted some fish. We were. He was younger he's 12 now, but he was like I want to say six, and he wanted to try some fish.
Speaker 2:Right, we got him some goldfish. We also got him some little neon tetras and I walked in completely done, right, I knew nothing. I'm like what do I need to do here? Do I just get water in the bowl? She's like oh no, no, sir, you need to condition the water, you need to get it to let it sit for a while in room temp. She was so knowledgeable, she knew exactly what to do. The fish thrived until we moved and couldn't care for them anymore. We said, okay, let's give them to some friends. But otherwise, I firmly attribute that to her because she was able to say hey, here's how you care for them. Come back If you need anything else. You might try this. You might add this in, you might do this. You might not need that, yeah. And the other side, too, is knowing when you're an expert in something, you know when to say hey, you can try this. It's not required, you don't have to have that, but it works really well for most people and so that's really good.
Speaker 3:No, I love that story and that really resonates. I think what I really appreciate about our associate base is they are incredibly knowledgeable. We invest a tremendous amount of money and energy and effort making sure that they can guide you, to make sure that you have a really successful experience with your kids and a new hobby like fish. Like how horrible would it be for you as a dad to have to explain to them the next morning that something went wrong, like we don't want that. I think we're explaining to her she's in heaven.
Speaker 2:24 hours later. Yeah, that's horrible.
Speaker 3:We don't want that to happen. I think one of my favorite stories we do this thing we call voice of associate, where we'll travel to a market and we'll have all the associates just share with us Like what's working, what do they need, what can we do better. And just to show you how much our associates know, we had one associate pull up with a top fan I mentioned is like the largest fish brand in the marketplace and she pulled up the box of an aquarium and she's like and I can't remember exactly, maybe it was a five gallon tank and she's like there should be no more than two fish in this tank and there's three fish pictured on the packaging.
Speaker 3:She's like this is not safe and I'm like you know what. You're right and so we took it back and we went to the marketing team and we fixed it. But it's like those details matter and our associate base is so passionate about making sure we uphold the absolute highest standard of pet health. That and look, we don't always get it right, but we have a team that is so dialed in to making sure that we do right by the pet that we're all helping each other be better, which I love.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Well, and that's the other thing too your pets are really involved in community too, right, Like as far as charitable giving and kind of giving back to communities, right, what's some of the stuff that pets are currently doing in that area? Just as far as a community involvement, even.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean we have a 501 3C arm to our business which is called PetSmart Charities. We have adopted over 10 million pets into people's homes, so we are the number one adoption partner across the United States, which is really, really exciting. It's something that we you know it's a huge part of like what we do at PetSmart On the merchandising side. We love to support that business. So when you check out a PetSmart, you know on the pin pad you can choose to donate a dollar or a couple of dollars to PetSmart Charities if you want to. But we also build it into some of our assortments. So we have a collection called Chance and Lucky. They're little stuffed animal toys, they're $5 and every time we sell one we donate a dollar of the $5 to PetSmart Charities.
Speaker 3:And just to give you perspective, we have that program in three or four seasons. And so this Christmas we have a Chance and Lucky program. We're going to sell 5 million units. That's $5 million that we are giving to PetSmart Charities to help pets in need. So PetSmart Charities, that only helps adopt pets into homes, but they also help with relief efforts. So you know, when there is a natural disaster or a tornado or a fire or something like that. Petsmart Charities goes and tries to help the pets that are in need find either their owners or find make sure that they're well cared for. So it's a huge part of our brand.
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely, I remember the stories coming out of like Katrina and stuff like that. I mean that was a huge, huge impact there for y'all and I thought that was a tremendous effort, just wow. Yeah, it's. It always sucks to see pets suffer, and so it's like it's really cool to see you guys doing such good stuff within the communities and being able to help care for them.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, it's sort of our way to say, like, we love pets and we believe pets make us better people. Okay, well, let's just put our money where our mouth is and make sure that we're actually supporting that mission in a really material way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's so good. Well, I know we're kind of we're kind of wrapping up a little bit here. I know we've, unfortunately we've got to wind it down. But tell me a little bit about what is the horizon, what's on the horizon for pets, martin? You know pet category and retail pet and everything. I mean what's, what's coming down the pipeline for you that you're really excited for?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so there are a couple of things. So I'm going to talk about food first, because we haven't spent a lot of time talking about food. But one of the big trends in food which is not going to be surprising to you is the consumer is reading the ingredient label and they want more than just reconstituted cornmeal, right Like, and so we're seeing categories like fresh and frozen really grow, where if you took a simply nourish bag and you turned it around in the frozen freezer aisle, it would the ingredient deck would literally say chicken.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's so good.
Speaker 3:It's so good and it's so good for your pet, and so we're really focused on making sure that our assortment has, you know we will always have the largest assortment of of consumables that you can get at a regional store. But we also want to make sure that we're educating pet parents on on what they're putting into their pet from a nourishment perspective. And simply, nourish is one of our proprietary brands and it has a really clean ingredient deck. It's super simple, it's easy for your pet to digest and it gives them energy. It makes their coat look amazing, helps with their joints. So we're really focused on the nutrition part of of the food business. So that's, I think, one thing that I'm really excited about.
Speaker 2:It's so good, so good. I guess I'm going to tell you after this too, but go ahead.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I want to hear the second thing.
Speaker 3:The second thing you know we talked a lot about Dog on the Go. We have a proprietary brand called Arcadia Trail. We launched it right as the pandemic was happening and and that was a moment where I was like, oh man, this is either going to be brilliant or or not. And it turned out to be brilliant and Arcadia Trail is really about adventuring with your pet. So you know, whether it's like a little tent for your pet, a little floating raft I've talked about the cooling mat with the sunshade. There are really durable leashes and collars. There's, you know, little floaties and and life jackets and things like. Like people want to be outside and adventure with their pet.
Speaker 3:I'm really excited about Arcadia Trail. We have a ton of innovation coming in that business, so stay tuned for that. And then you know. The last thing I would say is I didn't talk a ton about the specialty. We call it specialty business, so that would be aquatic reptiles, small animal and bird. But those are really big businesses for us and, honestly, a lot of times you see parents bring their kids into the store because they want to look at the live pets, and so those are businesses that continue to grow for us. There's one proprietary brand in small animal called full cheeks, and what we understood when we looked at the assortment for habitats for these small animals is they were generally too small for the pet.
Speaker 3:What we see in health standards is these habitats need to be bigger, and so we spent a lot of time building this brand to not only make the habitat bigger for the health of the pet, but also make it beautiful to put in your house, and so I'm really excited about that proprietary brand. So if you're thinking about getting a chinchilla or a guinea pig, check out full cheeks.
Speaker 2:Okay, all right, we'll have to check that one out for sure, because I mean, that's the thing is like and it's funny. You say chinchilla. So a good friend of mine had one for years and it was just, it was the sweetest little thing. His name was Gus. I was super sweet. No, it's funny. You know.
Speaker 2:To go back to your point about food stuff really quick, the, I think that's where another thing that has in just an observation side. My wife and I we're really attentive now to what's going into our pets food right. And so it's funny because for the longest time you would just think, oh, it's a pet, right, they'll eat whatever. But then you start really paying attention and especially if you've got an aging dog right, just just speaking to dogs specifically, just that's my experience, like as you start understanding more of what's in the food and you start seeing dogs with more joint issues or you know, congestion issues or anything else. You know what is going on. Why are these pets having so much more difficulty now? And it's because for a while there or the pet food manufacturers were just kind of like, eh, it's simple meal, you know, that's really it. And so it's funny because we're nowhere near on a scale of competing with you and my son, and I didn't even tell you this before the before this chat. My son has his own little dog treat business that he sells at the farmer's market and one thing that people love is how basically try to keep stuff right. Same thing, you know. You mentioned having the frozen stuff or the fresher foods that has real chicken as an ingredient, and so you know he's got beef and blueberry, he's got these different things that are really good for pets dogs specifically in our case, you know. And so it's really funny because we that's one of the biggest things that we recognized, as he he's a big dog lover, he's a big pet lover, he loves cats too.
Speaker 2:We stopped by a local shelter and built a cat house one day. That was really funny, but it was like how do we, how do we do something that's going to be, you know, where people are right, how are we going to meet people in the need that they have? And you know that's exactly what PetSmart's doing. I just love seeing that. And ultimately, yeah, that's one of the biggest things we recognize is people caring more about those details, and I think this goes back to the private label. You know toy brand as well, and everything is watching what's in the toy, right? Because people are more aware of a squeaker coming out. They're more aware of a plastic pull tab or something like that breaking off and maybe causing an issue. So I think it's really great to have that built in now.
Speaker 2:And, you guys, it sounds like PetSmart's doing a really great job of building that in from the grassroots up right, and so it's like when you start designing those products those foods, those toys you know, funny enough, I saw the Arcadia Trail dog backpack carrier and so I'm like you know, that's, that's so good, but it seems like everything is thought through very, very carefully on how it's going to impact both pet and pet owner alike. So that's really good. Yeah, it's our mission. Well, this is. This has been super good, and I almost hate to cut it off, but I know we're coming up on like that almost an hour now. So I feel like, well, people need to reach out to you, right, they need to get to know you better, and if they want to follow you, I'd imagine they can follow you on LinkedIn, right? Do her a favor, though. If you do reach out and try to connect with her, be sure, and tell her you heard about her here on the podcast, so she's she knows you're a real person.
Speaker 3:Yeah, please do that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, do that because we all know that we get probably like 40 friend requests or connection requests, I should say, on LinkedIn every day.
Speaker 3:Could I expect to hear from your son trying to sign? The dog treats.
Speaker 2:Maybe, I don't know he might reach out and be, like hey, he'll be on that hustle.
Speaker 3:That's right I love that.
Speaker 2:No, it's just it's so good to see and just hear everything that's going on with PetSmart, because, you know, I think it's funny, we can get so wrapped up specifically in retail, we get so wrapped up in in the human categories, right, and I just I was so looking forward to this conversation because Pet is something that's near and dear to me, and so I just love hearing that. And thanks for taking time.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you, we appreciate the opportunity. Obviously, I love talking about pets as well, so it's it's great to have the conversation with you, brian, and we just appreciate the opportunity. So absolutely.
Speaker 2:And of course you said you know, like, if anybody wants to get involved in the PetSmart, like the Pet Perks program, right, yes, 60 million people, oh my gosh, that's a lot.
Speaker 3:Yes, download the app, you can start right now.
Speaker 2:Check it out. I'll actually. Is there? Is there a link for the app, or is it just on the PetSmart website that they can kind of go and you?
Speaker 3:can go to the PetSmart website. You can go to the app store. Just download.
Speaker 2:I'm going to put it down in the description. Yeah, yeah. It'll be in the notes down here.
Speaker 3:Okay, great Perfect.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you, kristen. We really appreciate you joining us here Again. If this is your first episode of the Retail Wire Podcast, thank you so much for joining us. I really, really appreciate you. Be sure, and hit that subscribe button so you don't miss another great episode. Also, if you for some reason want to see what Kristen and I look like in this episode, not only can you listen to us across all your favorite podcasting platforms, but, kristen, they can head over to our Retail Wire YouTube channel, okay, and they can see us on there, so you know you'll get to see everything and the gorgeous view behind you. You're in your office, right?
Speaker 3:There at work. Yes, in Phoenix. So we've got palm trees and you know it looks good when you're sitting in air conditioning. But, as you know, it's a little warm in Phoenix right now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're in those triple digits right now, I think, for if you're wondering when we're recording this, it's late summer in 23 here and, yeah, dog days of summer, no pun intended are fully here, so zing, all right. Well, I'll see myself out now and thank you so much again for joining us. But, yeah, head over to our YouTube channel if you want to see that. That's youtubecom slash at Retail Wire. And also, yeah, be sure and connect with Kristen here on LinkedIn and we'll see you next time here on the Retail Wire podcast.
