Petco Unveils Long-Term Health and Wellness Strategy

Petco store

Petco Health and Wellness Company, Inc. on Wednesday (March 23) is rolling out its long-term strategic plan to catch Chewy in the increasingly competitive pet health and wellness sector as part of its 2022 Investor Day, a five-hour session that looks at what the company is planning for the next 12 months.

“Petco is on one of the steepest growth trajectories in all of retail, supported by our position as the only fully integrated provider of pet health and wellness across products, veterinary and services, digital, and in brick-and-mortar channels,” Petco Chairman and CEO Ron Coughlin said in the company announcement.

“We are defining the future of pet parenting in an incredibly high-growth and economically resilient category,” he said. “Our ecosystem is built to capture the market opportunity and positions us as a leader of what we call Retail 3.0. As we build on last year’s incredible performance, we’re emerging stronger and more confident that our strategic moats position us to compete and win.”

Petco’s Investor Day agenda includes outlining a future loyalty program under Vital Care that will migrate customers to subscription, save money for customers and expand Petco’s position as the premiere destination for pet parents; testing Small Town Rural concepts in key locations; increasing brand awareness in low-share markets; and building a differentiated merchandise offering through its vendor relationships.

Petco recently expanded its partnership with Just Food For Dogs and Healthy Habits Hub and is scaling its owned brands, including Reddy and Whole Hearted.

Petco’s strategic plan also includes scaling personalization capabilities by adding more data on pets and their so-called pet parents to deepen engagement and loyalty; building a customer-centric fulfillment network through a more robust physical footprint and additional digital capabilities; and driving access to new customers through partnerships with Lowe’s and other brands.

Related: Petco Buys Veterinary Services for its Stores

Earlier this month, Petco bought a 50% stake in Thrive Pet Healthcare, a veterinary firm that has helped more than 1.3 million pet families annually at almost 100 veterinary hospitals at Petco stores in 14 states since the companies paired up in 2017.