What you’ll read: transparency is a core component of PetSmart’s brand strategy. Here’s how it contributes to their success.
Transparency is essential for every modern business, but the stakes are much higher for pet brands like PetSmart. Customers want the absolute best for their floofy puppies and aloof kittens , and expect pet brands to provide accurate information. Visitors will (rightly) demand details relating to the ingredients in pet foods or how animals are treated in an adoption department. Meanwhile, any brand crisis involving pet safety might sour public sentiment, especially as animal rights organizations watch for potential abuses.
With all these challenges, it’s no wonder that transparency is a core component of PetSmart’s brand strategy. For marketers, that makes it a valuable case study for communicating with customers in 2022.
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From pet food to animal care
PetSmart’s first two storefronts opened in 1987 under the brand name “PetFood Warehouse.” The company’s initial goal was to create a chain of discount warehouses for pet food, offering bulk products at the lowest prices. As an additional perk, it was one of the first retail stores that allowed customers to bring their pets into the building — making animal visits an essential part of the experience.
Unfortunately, while PetFood Warehouse’s strategy reduced costs, the stores themselves were literal warehouses — not exactly appealing places to bring a beloved pet. In response, the company rebranded into a Walmart-style superstore experience that specialized in all pet needs. PetSmart quickly pivoted to develop more attractive storefront locations while expanding its services to include grooming, pet adoption, and veterinary clinics. Later expansions prioritized customer service and employee training to ensure a high-quality customer experience.
In the early 2000s, PetSmart made a concerted effort to unify its shopping experiences by integrating in-store, catalog, and online sales. This approach streamlined operations, serving customers equally across all channels while standardizing the model for future expansions.
Investing in transparency
If you’re a brand like PetSmart, you have two marketing priorities — to authentically show that you love animals and highlight the various ways you care for them. In terms of transparency, that means implementing effective policies across all locations, communicating values to customers, and taking appropriate action to address any infractions.
PetSmart certainly makes every effort to cover the bases in terms of policy. Compliance and Ethics standards go beyond standard workplace practices to address animal health, pet food ingredients, supply chain codes of conduct, and more. In addition, thanks to PetSmart’s training investments, each location includes e-learning courses and on-site lessons to prepare employees for supporting a wide range of pet breeds. Grooming stylists, for example, complete 800+ hours of instruction and safety certification alongside annual recertification.
In practice, it’s challenging to maintain a company of PetSmart’s size without accidents and infractions. The most egregious examples often occur in supply chains beyond the company’s direct control — such as when its live animal suppliers were accused of abusing their hamsters and guinea pigs. When these allegations emerged, PetSmart ended its relationship with the offending companies to avoid tarnishing its brand values.
In a few cases, PetSmart itself was accused of failing to protect animals under its care. In 2018, NJ Advance Media investigated 47 cases where dogs died during grooming visits or shortly thereafter. PetSmart conducted a review and concluded these deaths were not systemic, but customers need more details when it comes to beloved pets.
To that end, PetSmart doubled down on transparency in its grooming practices. These changes included open house events where customers could meet with groomers, independent reviews of training curriculum, enhanced salon monitoring, and higher safety standards across all locations.
Transparency demands authenticity
Of course, PetSmart hasn’t emerged from every crisis unscathed. After a private equity buyout in 2015, the company struggled to make the business more profitable while maintaining high animal care standards. These tensions accelerated in 2020 due to pandemic-related furloughs — which remaining employees claim the company is expanding into permanent cost-cutting measures.
To its credit, PetSmart owner BC Partners appears to be transparent when it comes to investments in wage increases, bonuses, pandemic safety equipment, and other essential upgrades. The firm is also upfront about initiatives to promote environmental and social issues, which now include various PetSmart charities. But unfortunately, these statements conflict with reports from retail work advocacy groups who speak on behalf of PetSmart employees about their working conditions.
The disconnect suggests that even if BC Partners is transparent about PetSmart, it might come off as inauthentic when prioritizing employee needs. Thankfully, PetSmart has banked goodwill through its charities and animal care initiatives, but that reputation can only last for so long. While this situation is evolving, PetSmart could face a brand crisis if it degrades further and leads to animal harm.
Recent challenges aside, PetSmart’s transparency initiatives are remarkably successful. Even when a genuine crisis emerges, the brand is open about its ethical standards and ongoing efforts to improve animal care. These communications helped PetSmart build a positive relationship that drove expansions across the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico. If BC Partners can build on that relationship, PetSmart will find it has room to become even more to its customers.