How pet retailers are leveraging private brands

The pet category continues to grow and encompass more areas of pet health, with private label playing as big a role as ever, according to a speaker at the Store Brands Industry Forum on Nonfood Innovation. 

Nick Konat, chief merchandising officer at Petco, discussed the growing category at the Jan. 19 forum. 

The event, hosted by former Store Brands executive editor Dan Ochwat, featured speakers from across the private brand space to discuss nonfood innovation in categories such as pet, sanitization, home goods and wellness, along with an e-commerce segment to begin the event.

The full forum can be viewed on-demand here.

“We’ve had over 11 million new pets enter homes since 2020,” said Konat. “A key trend is humanization. ‘I’m giving my pets supplements, fresh food, I’m putting clothes on them.’ That trend along with people willing to spend more for better products… we’ve seen that create an enormous market opportunity.”

With increased demand for new and expanded products, Konat said that the company has leveraged its brick-and-mortar presence to promote its own brands when pet parents come to their local Petco.

“When we talk about nutrition, we formulated WholeHearted (a Petco private brand) specifically for pet parents who are looking for something better than what they are finding in the grocery store, but still very affordable,” he said. “In the omnichannel environment, the ability to communicate on site offers tremendous competitive advantages that you get from being the owner of the brand.”

For private label products, standing out with strong messaging and communication is also a major driver of sales.

“It goes back to having a really clear communication strategy and purpose,” said Konat on how to gain trust with consumers. “On our site or at any of our centers, you’ll see our health philosophy. That anchors not just our own brands, but us as a company. There’s a clarity there, so we’re able to create campaigns for each of those five pillars. Customers see consistency, and then we can start to promote the brands very clearly.”