The recent announcement of Tractor Supply Company’s acquisition of VIP Petcare sets up a formidable challenger to Chewy’s veterinary ecosystem that they are building with their recent acquisitions of Modern Animal and Smart Equine with a few notable differences –Customer Positioning and the value of Brick and Mortar.
Chewy positions themselves with premium care and service targeting consumers (especially Millennials and Gen Z) who treat their pets like children and are willing to spend more on them. Tractor Supply, with 85 years in business, has positioned themselves as rural lifestyle retailer focused on low prices. Two ends of the spectrum of pet care but data shows repeatedly that the income range of all pet owners tends to skew to the lower end of the range not the higher.
Are the days of Brick and Mortar seeing a comeback? Tractor Supply plans to grow to 3,200 stores by 2030- opening in rural and exurban communities. In addition, they continue to expand their smaller pet specialty stores, Petsense, in more urban/suburban areas. While Chewy will have some physical space with their veterinary clinics- they aren’t focused on providing retail services ( at least not yet). In addition, they are already being targeted by pet retail competitor Petsmart- calling out the advantages of in-store pickup- a benefit that Tractor Supply also offers.
Not sure exactly how this will play out but one thing is for sure, it will make for some interesting times ahead.
Dr. Christine Merle, Newsletter Editor
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