In this article:
- The Shop-in-shop trend is getting another household-name partnership between two mega brands, Lowe’s and Petco
- It rides a multitude of covid-era trends
- There’s a data-play here that most similar partnerships don’t tap into
Two years of a global pandemic, hundreds of millions of customers staying at home more than ever, a total disruption of supply chains, and the insane surges in both eCommerce AND product returns – have completely reshuffled the retail world.
Become the best CRMer you can:
CRM Hack: Monitoring the User’s Heartbeat
What Does It Mean to Treat a Customer’s Email With Respect?
To Lock or Not to Lock Customers (into CRM Journeys)
What the Efforts to Promote Responsible Gaming Look Like Form the Inside
Among the many ways in which brands have tried to cope with all of this was by collaborating with many new partners – including, sometimes, other retailers that usually compete over the same share-of-wallet.
We’ve seen it with BORIS (“Buy Online, Return in Store”), with Staples and Kohls among those allowing you to return store-less company’s products with them. Then there were Toys R Us popping inside Macy’s, and Bed Bath and Beyond inside Kroger
Two other significant trends this whole situation spawned were spikes in the home-improvement and pet-care industries.
Get Used to Shop in Shop-in-Shops
That’s why there’s zero surprise in seeing Lowe’s and Petco combining the best of both worlds – by bringing all the trends mentioned above together in one collab: not only shop-in-shop but also home-improvement AND pet-care.
As reported, including here on Forbes, the fact it all makes perfect sense was not enough for Lowe’s, the host-shop in this relationship. “Lowe’s research shows a real symmetry between home improvement projects and pet ownership,” writes Warren Shoulberg.
Additionally, “Lowe’s research showed a connection for millennial and gen Z customers when it came to housing preferences that included pet-friendly layouts and environments.” So, guess you can undoubtedly mark another important trend checked, with Lowe’s being able to attract perhaps a younger kind of audience than usual.
Podium Partners
Oh, and there’s one more reason this specific alliance isn’t a total shock for us: we know these are two intelligent brands with a modern approach towards marketing.
In our “7 Commandments of Smart CRM Basics” series, where we analyze brands’, well, smart CRM basics – we have covered more than 60 companies by now. And, coincidentally, both Lowe’s and Petco got a great score of 90% – jointly occupying the 2nd and 3rd places, only trailing Pets at Home with 91%.
By the way, currently sitting at 4th, with a score of 87%, is Lowe’s biggest competitor – The Home Depot. We think it’s safe to say a Home Depot and Pets at Home collab is around the corner, right? It even comes with a name, Pets at Home Depot. I’m telling you; this thing writes itself.
Anyhow, we have a strong sense that if ANY two brands would not let the data opportunity such collaboration presents go to waste, it would be Lowe’s and Petco. Still, most partnerships fall short at the data-integration and data-leverage aspects. This is a shame – combining customer-data from partnerships of this kind is a goldmine for increased customer segmentation and personalization – the likes of which can generate impactful uplift in Customer Lifetime Value.
And, hey, this trend is still certainly on the rise – it’s totally time to find the previously-maybe-competitor to Shop-in-shop with.