During a seminar explaining pet owner purchasing behaviors and confidence indicators, a colleague leaned over to me and said, “Florists deliver flowers locally, also pizza and now groceries, why don’t DVMs deliver pet supplies the same way?” His observation interrupted thoughts throughout the day alongside memories of how we used to do things before specialized small package delivery companies became entrenched. I was reminded of this Jennifer Boncy article.
Source: Pet Product News, January 14, 2018.
National pet product distributor Animal Supply Company is teaming up with Postmates—a courier network and logistics company—to provide its independent pet specialty retailers an affordable, on-demand, same-day home delivery to their customers. Animal Supply Company officials describe the service as “a turnkey solution” allowing its retail partners to compete against large e-commerce retailers.
INSIGHTS: Our industry has used local services in the food animal business since the 1970s. Maybe it is time to look backwards to a time when there wasn’t full UPS and FedEx coverage for a workable solution to local, just-in-time delivery. Hmm?