Better

pet sales &

merchandising
through category
analytics
and shopper
insights (the longest presentation title I could think of)
For Discussion
General Pet Retail Rules
Retail Analytics
Tips, Pointers, and Suggestions
At least three things that interest
only me
Todays Retail Different than Yesterday

Immediate, Free, and Focused Just on Me

 Big Big Facts

US Economy: $18T
US Pet Industry: $66B
5%-6% YOY Growth since 90s
US Pet Industry would be worlds 74th largest
economy
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery
 Online hurts more in certain areas
Hardgoods
High Frequency / Non
Impulse
Heavily Researched
Easy to ship
Not urgent
Previously Purchased /
Solution Found
Strong / Known
Brands
Pricey Items
 Consumer Shifts!
THINGS GOING ON IN YOUR WORLD

Economy
Age and Youth
Diversity
Urbanization
We are different shoppers
Too much retail
Key Pet Specialty ConsumerShifting
 Consumers you need!
Est: 24MM Pet HH FDM Mainstream Buyers
versus the Pet Specialty Shopper

Skew younger than Slightly lower Will shop Pet

Less likely to be Pet
PS Mainstream incomes than PS Specialty for
Parents
shopper Shopper Hardgoods

Convenient/Cost-
Just 25% fear by- Not highly natural Whats wrong with
effective Natural
products not entirely sold science?
shopper

CLA Dog & Cat Study 2013,

CLA Pet Affinity Study 2014
 Consumers you need!

Millennials Boomers
Hispanics Asians
 Main Point:
pay attention to
whats going on,
and have a
strategy!
 What are the trends across
retail, and how do they
impact you?
Do you have the right
consumers?
Where else are your
customers shopping and
why?
What can put you out of
business tomorrow?
What are you doing about it?
Todays Course Layout
Retail 101.
Basics Things you should be doing now.
Cost of admission.

Retail 201.
Advanced Not necessarily difficult, but may
require extra discipline and resources.

Opportunity: Retailing Best Practices

 The Right Product in the Right Amount in the
Right Place at the Right Price at the Right Time
for the Right Shopper

Sounds Super Easy!

 Pet Channel Strengths
Passion
Authenticity
Expertise / Knowledge
Locality / Linkage / Community
Nimble
True Love
Stores!
 Things we could do better
Information
More Time / Resources for the Strategic
Customer Experience / Theatre / Engagement
Shopper Expertise / Segment Marketing
Consumer Education
Merchandising & Selling
And what are we gonna do about price?
 A little less love
A bit more mercenary

If you cant get them into your stores (or your brands),
you cant educate them and you cant trade them up.
 Hot Retail Trends
(and other things you should know)

Consumers, across all pet

WOM Rules! Consumers Price and availability are
categories, becoming
filtering out social media now someones
weary and/or skeptical of
advertising noise innovation
product proliferation

High end foods and lower

Natural Yes, but how
end value naturals are Small Dog and Cat
about Science?
primed for growth

Pets have psychological

Hardgoods Pets are fat
issues

Basics
 General Rules For Retail

The Pet Channel

Consumers That
Needs New
Walk Into a Pet Store
Consumers. So Do
Are Looking For
You. Nothing is More
Solutions. They
Important Than
Better Find Them At
Traffic, and Traffic is
Your Pet Store.
Down.

Basics
 General Rules For Retail

Passion is Key. But Frequency is Pretty

then, so is Fact- Low, So Make
The Sell Is More Every Visit Count
Based Decision-
Important Than
Making. And so is (If they are heading to the
The Buy. register, the cart should be
Keeping the Lights full)
On.

Basics
 General Rules For Retail

Someday the Unless You Can

Find Your
FDMCD Channel Give Product
Competitive
Will Carry The Away, Youll Lose a
Advantage, and
Same Brands You Pricing Battle Every
Exploit It.
Do. Then What? Time

Personal relationships with shoppers, knowledge,

Basics experience, services, events, personalization, etc.
 Shopper Movement

Be Right. Or
be Left. Have a Path
and a No Alleys
Just go Destination
somewhere.

Basics
 Category Presentation & Shelf

Low End
Step Step Put it where Product,
Step, Turn Eye can see it Low Shelf
Placement

Basics
 Category Presentation & Shelf

Interactivity /
Engagement
Be Eye-Catching
Engage all the
Signage
senses
Displays
In store experts /
Cohesive and easy
demonstrations
to shop sets
draw traffic and
move product.

Basics
 Are you Engaging? Be Local!
Opportunities for outings / interactions / socialization with pets
Yappy Hours / Ice Cream - Yogurt
Sampling Parties
Indoor / Outdoor Park affairs
Education / Vet Seminars
Vet Services
Training / Grooming
Community Sponsorship
Instore Labs
Bulk Program / Mix and Match
Contests
Microbreweries
Youth sports
Food trucks
Cook for your pets night
 Category Presentation & Shelf

In and Outs!
Is there a Cross- Solution Sets
new product Merchandise! / Collections
showcase?

Basics
Are You the Solution (Set)?
Travel
Joint Human / Canine Fitness / Recreation
Weight Health: Obesity / Diabetes
Urban / Apartment Pets
Senior Pet-owning HHs
Eco-friendly
Dollar store
Which retailers will own these niches?

Advanced
Human / Canine Fitness & Recreation
 Retail Management

How are you measuring and

monitoring your business?
 You should already be measuring:
Sales / Units
Growth
= (sales for current time
period sales for prior time
period)/(prior time period)
Number of Transactions
Total number of sales in a
given period
Basics
Gross Margin (GM)
= ((total sales total cost of
goods sold)/total sales) *
100
Foot Traffic
How many people visit your
store?
When do they visit?
When is traffic heaviest?
 Are you also measuring:
Sales per SQ Foot
=(Total Sales / Total SQ FT.)
Conversion Rate / Effectivity
How often does a visit result in
purchase?
=(Total number of sales
transactions / Foot Traffic)
Average Transaction / Basket
Value
=(Total Sales / Transactions)
Average Units per Transaction
Turns
The number of times stock is
sold through in a given period.
=(Cost of Goods Sold / Average
Inventory)
Advanced
Shopper Value / Sales Per
Shopper
What is each potential shopper
worth to you?
=(Total Sales $ / Foot Traffic)
Sell-Through
The percentage of units sold versus
the number of units that are
available to sell.
How much can you move in a given
period?
=(Number of Units Sold / QOH)
GMROI
For every dollar invested in
inventory, how much did you get
back?
=(Gross Margin / Average Inventory
Cost)
 Is your Sq. Footage allocated correctly?
Reptile, 1.1%
Wild Bird, 1.8% Dog food usually
S\A,
Bird, 3.5% outperforms its
7.1%
space
Live Fish, 5.8%
Dog Food, 19.9%
Dog Treats, 2.0%
Parts\Chews,
Aquatics, 12.4% 2.0%
Dog Toys, 3.5%
Dog C&L, 2.7%
Cat Beds, Furn,
Dog Feeding
Pans, 2.7%
Cat Toys, 1.1% Waste \ Storage,
Management, 2.7%
Cat Litter, 2.2% Cat Food, 13.3% 2.2%
Cat Treats, 0.4% Dog HABA, Dog Beds ,
Carriers\Crates\K 2.2% 2.7%
ennel, 6.6% Dog Supplies,
2.2%

Advanced
Market Survey
Do you know
who is
shopping
you?
Demographics
Psychographics
Geographics
Behaviors
Needs
Occasions / Drivers

Advanced Are you talking to the right consumer?

 Do you know who is shopping you?
Know your market. What other
consumers are in your market
area that you might be missing?

.5 Mile Radius

59% foreign born . 26% of housing is owned . Overindex <$25K .

Overindex $150K+ . Overindex Latino and Asian . Overindex
Advanced under age 18 . Overindex working age.
Each category
& product you
sell should
play a role and
serve a
purpose.

Based on your shopper, do you know which

categories and products you will use to generate
profit, drive traffic, protect share, build basket,
create excitement, etc.?
Advanced
 Do you maximize your space and
assortment? Your return on Shelf?
Sales
Ft of Share Sales vs. Sales by
Chain Brand Space Space% % Dollars Growth Promo % Space Linear Ft
Retailer A Brand 1 20 31.7% 39.98% $6,160,901 21.92% 29.30% 8.23% $308,045
Retailer A Brand 1 11 17.5% 20.55% $3,167,786 8.39% 26.08% 3.09% $287,981
Retailer A Brand 1 6 9.5% 3.97% $612,512 -4.66% 17.90% -5.55% $102,085
Retailer A Brand 1 4 6.3% 1.36% $208,901 3.66% 16.53% -4.99% $52,225
Retailer A Brand 1 4 6.3% 4.54% $699,624 -13.12% 22.38% -1.81% $174,906
Retailer A Brand 1 4 6.3% 5.10% $785,337 15.54% 21.56% -1.25% $196,334
Retailer A Brand 1 3 4.8% 1.47% $225,810 64.37% 18.97% -3.30% $75,270
Retailer A Brand 1 3 4.8% 4.27% $658,785 5.76% 26.50% -0.49% $219,595
Retailer A Brand 1 2 3.2% 2.62% $404,534 -5.85% 20.68% -0.55% $202,267
Retailer A Brand 1 2 3.2% 2.77% $426,811 31.52% 11.24% -0.41% $213,406
Retailer A Brand 1 2 3.2% 1.24% $190,611 4.38% 7.89% -1.94% $95,306
Retailer A Brand 1 1 1.6% 0.25% $38,314 -22.18% 36.26% -1.34% $38,314
Retailer A Brand 1 1 1.6% 1.96% $301,957 2.39% 19.60% 0.37% $301,957
Retailer A TOTAL / AVG 63 $15,411,406 9.44% 24.11% $244,625

Space to Sales
Space to Margin
Advanced Space to Profit
 Do you benchmark your sales or growth
versus the industry?
20.00%

15.99%

15.00%

11.97% 11.88%

9.78%
10.00% 9.21%

7.33%

5.46% 5.48%
5.00% 4.37%
3.61% 3.95%
2.90% 3.21%
1.61%
0.76% 0.66%
0.00%
-0.10%

-2.69%
-5.00%
Total DOG FOOD & CAT FOOD & LITTER AND DOG TOYS DOG COLLAR BEDS APPAREL CAT
TREATS TREATS ACCESSORIES & LEADS FURNITURE
FDM Pet Specialty

Advanced
Sample Growth Comps
 So, start with three things.
Investigate & Learn More
What Are Your Opportunities?
Is This Achievable? How?
Is This Worthwhile?
Prioritize / Set Goals & Timelines
Get Help If You Need It
Do It!
Monitor & Measure
Add Three More
Michael_Johnson@clareps.com 801 671 9844