Name: How Chewy Harnessed the Pandemic Pet Boom | WSJ
Uploaded: 2021-06-08T03:03:26.000Z
Duration: 6 min 33 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

- [Narrator] This is an artist painting a portrait of a cat.

Basic passive voice

but by Chewy, the online pet supply store.

The company has set out tens of thousands

of these surprise pet portraits over the past eight years.

Chewy customers have shared them across social media.

The same time, the company's business has been booming.

In 2020, Chewy gained over 5 1/2 million active customers.

- We took action pretty quickly, actually, in our opinion,

and the strategy looking back was really communicate,

- [Narrator] Here's how Chewy seized the pandemic pet craze

And why some analysts think its success is built to last.

millions of people were forced to work from home

and with more time on their hands, they adopted new pets.

Analysts estimate that more than 11 million pets

many turned to the internet to buy supplies.

and supplies online last year, up from 23% in 2019.

This added up to about $5 billion increase

who analyzes the pet industry for Morgan Stanley,

says this increase was a big benefit for retailers.

- We do believe that the pet industry is better positioned

which tend to be very loyal to specific retailers.

- [Narrator] With the influx of new pet owners,

all gained more shoppers over the past year.

But sitting at the top of the dog pile? Chewy.

has the #1 market share position for online pet retail.

from offline to online as it relates to e-commerce.

from the structural increase in pet ownership.

- [Narrator] But Chewy's success wasn't just timing.

handled the demand from the pandemic pet boom.

When COVID-19 first first took hold in the US in March 2020,

The surge in e-commerce demand strained postal services

that put even more pressure on retailers.

- When industry-wide supply chains were disrupted,

what was going on was that we weren't receiving products

Number two, because fulfillment center backlog was so high,

between one and two days to customers reliably.

Our shipping times went up to seven to 10 days.

- [Narrator] Competitors like Amazon faced similar issues.

But at this key moment, Chewy made strategic decisions.

The company also invested in shipping packages by air

- Across a combination of these three mechanisms,

we were able to sort of control our situation.

- [Narrator] While these investments were expensive,

- For businesses that can retain these customers,

over the course of the next several years.

Chewy rolled out a number of new products

its own pet telehealth service called Connect with a Vet.

The company's CEO says the platform was launched

while clinics were impacted by global shutdowns.

- We internally said, "Okay, how about we develop a solution

"that allows us to connect customers and veterinarians

The company announced that it would be manufacturing

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How Chewy Harnessed the Pandemic Pet Boom | WSJ

overwhelmed

pandemic

strategy

impact