New ways of getting product on
retailers’ shelves prove beneficial to the industry overall
Distributors in the pet industry aren’t like they used to be. While
traditional companies remain a sturdy link in the supply chain, other
companies, such as online brokers and hybrid distributors, are tying
in, too. Each business model has its benefits and drawbacks, but they
all have one common goal: To give retailers more products to choose
from.
Jody Maddox, owner of Wag! Dog Emporium, says she actually looks
forward to ordering product to sell in her store in Eugene, Ore. Like
many boutique owners, she works with local distribution companies for
food and hard goods, and orders many SKUs direct from manufacturers.
Lately, however, she’s been taking advantage of the online
purchasing platforms.
“You can see the products, you’ve got the price right there, and you
can do it in the evening when you get home,” she says. “It’s all right
there. You don’t have to thumb through your files for a catalog, worry
about minimums, that sort of thing. I think it’s a great service.”
Brokering a Deal
Online ordering is quickly becoming a popular way to order merchandise.
It makes sense: According to BIGresearch’s Consumer Intensions and
Actions survey conducted in November 2008, 72.8-million shoppers
planned to click through cyberspace to do their holiday shopping, up
from 51.7 million in 2005. Consumers are doing it, and now many
retailers are doing it, too.
Online virtual marketplaces allow a new generation of purchasing
platforms to host a storefront of manufacturers’ and distributors’
goods, take retailers’ orders, notify manufacturers of the request and
act as a buffer between them.
“They are companies or distributors or entities that are like a
distributor but are virtual companies,” explains Steve King, president
of Pet Industry Distributors Association (PIDA) in Bel Air, Md. “Often,
they don’t take title to the goods they’re selling. They simply act as
a conduit for retailers to purchase certain products.”
Rather than warehouse the goods, online purchasing platforms partner
with smaller manufacturers and niche distributors that normally sell
direct to dealers. They provide a portal for retailers to purchase
goods not found through traditional independent distributors.
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