Commentary: includes complementary commercial content from VetSource®
Chewy’s success is getting noticed by our industry. For veterinary hospitals, it is a definitive call to action to embrace, implement and optimize home delivery” – Kirk Augustine
Like Amazon and other e-commerce retailers, Chewy has seen the kind of growth that was expected to take years to achieve, get crammed into two months because of the coronavirus pandemic. Chewy executives believe it will retain the new customers acquired as a result of the pandemic when stay-at-home orders end.
Autoship sales, purchases that are automatically renewed monthly or weekly, topped $1 billion during the second quarter for the first time.
Source: Forbes, June 10, 2020. Link. Chewy’s business strategy since its launch has been to convince more and more pet owners to do more and more of their pet supplies shopping online. New and existing customers spent more driving record sales.
Also see: Ad spending among pet brands jumps over 50 percent, Pet Product News, June 12, 2020. Link.
INSIGHTS: Alternate sources for veterinary products are not a new phenomenon. However, the landscape continues to change rapidly, especially for companion animal practices. Today, veterinary clinics have professional, alternate sources available to support dispensing, while retaining their position in the retail supply chain with animal owners.
Alternate-source expansion resembles the changes in equine and livestock supplier sources from the late 1970s. The catalyst then was that UPS and FedEx achieved delivery to nearly every ZIP code. In 2020, the catalyst is the rapid expansion of digital bandwidth, ease of access and autoship services, supported by growing just-in-time fulfillment options.
To better understand the impact of the customer retention efforts from web-based OTC suppliers and supplier brand expansion, I called a colleague from VetSource. We discussed some common misconceptions among practices. I am pleased to confirm VetSource:
- remains a trusted service extension for individual participating practices.
- promotes individual practice branding making it the practice’s home delivery service.
- allows practices full control of their home delivery catalog with competitive retail options.
- reports purchase volume by individual practice for industry rebates and programs.
- can demonstrate how it compliments in clinic sales and increases compliance
Vetsource arms individual practices with the right tools to run a better business, deliver better care and personalize your client experience”
Information about VetSource is available on its website < link >.
An introductory video covers common questions and includes information about contacting VetSource to learn more and enroll. < link >