Pet Lovers

[Tinkrbl44]

I would love some feedback on this ..........   

I prefer to shop locally for Bogey's food and litter.   I often have a coupon or two, and take advantage whenever possible.  I have ordered from Chewy a few times, but only for big things that will get delivered to my door.

Currently, I shop almost exclusively at Petsmart, but will still occasionally stop at Petco.   My two local chains are Petsmart and Petco. 

Approximately 18 months ago, Petco stopped sending out the monthly 10% discount emails for anything you buy.  Great benefit, not sure why they ended it.

Then, approximately a year ago, Petco raised the bar for Rewards points.  If I recall correctly, for every $100 you spent, we'd get a $5 rewards dollars credit for upcoming purchases.  Then they raised how many points you'd need to get the discount.   

Grrrr ...

In today's email from Petco, I got a notice that any Rewards points I accumulate now will expire in just 30 days after issuance!   Huh?   

I have several thoughts on this but ....  what's your take on this?   

[drizzellla]

I am sure Chewy has put a HUGE dent into Petco's sales/profits. Petco is trying to survive. Our dog died 2 years ago and Petco is still sending us specials they are having on dog grooming.

You see Chewy deliveries to just about every house in the neighborhood that has a dog or cat. And there is a Petco 1/4 mile away.

[GloriBee]

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@Tinkrbl44 wrote:

I have several thoughts on this but ....  what's your take on this?   

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@Tinkrbl44, my take on this is that they are shooting themselves in the foot!  People shop more and are loyal when they receive rewards.  If you have less time in which to earn rewards and a shorter time in which to use them customers will take their money elsewhere.

[kaydee50]

Many retailers change their rules.  It's their game. We used to get 30% off the entire purchase at CVS.  That ended.  BB&B used constantly send coupons  That ended.

Time will tell if it's a benefit to them or not.

[On It]

It seems like their intent was to get customers into the store more frequently. They probably realize dollars are being spent elsewhere, and they wanted to capture more of them.

Shortening the redemption period was not a positive incentive. If they had instead said they would double any points redeemed within a thirty day period, customers would have been more likely to come back frequently.

[Icegoddess]

At the moment they still carry the brands of canned cat foods I like to feed my cats and Petsmart doesn't, at least they didn't last time I was in their store.  So, I'll keep shopping there.  With Chewy I would have to buy a case of only one brand, one flavor.  I like to mix it up.  I save a little by taking my litter containers in and refilling them myself.  

[qvcaddition]

I get deliveries from both chewy and Petco. I like Chewy better and when I have to go to Petsmart which is always higher, they compare shop and I show them  how much chewy charges for the same item.  

I only shop Petco because I can't get the certain food from Chewy, but since Petco has done this on rewards, I will get the item I need from Petsmart  and chewy and drop Petco.

I heard awhile back, that either chewy owens Pet Smart or visa versa.  If you go to Petsmart, compare prices with chewy and they or at least mine will drop the price.

[Spurt]

@Tinkrbl44 @qvcaddition 

Petsmart owns Chewy (Chewy was acquired by PetSmart in May 2017 for $3.35 billion) So they are raking in the profits due to their Chewy business, and Petco is merely trying to stay in business.....Its a really tough retail world out there right now.  It appears Petco is trying to get a steady stream of customers in their store instead of offering a longer waiting period of time before customers return to the store to redeem coupons. And perhaps customers will pick up additinal purchases while in the store too helping their sales....

I will tell you one thing---Petsmart and Chewy are always out of my cat's favorite cat food brand, while Petco has it in stock and Instacart delivers from Petco too.  Instacart delivers right to my front door, while with Chewey/Petsmart Fed Ex delivers my purchases to our Condo Mail Center where we pick up packages. This means I have to drive to the Condo Mail Center, load up the heavy kitty litter and large bags of food into my car and then carry the packages from my driveway to inside my house! Petco is much more convenient for me anyway..........

And Fed Ex just wont deliver to my front door, more convenient for their drivers to get rid of all the resident's packages in one central location! And Fed Ex uses the excuse saying this way packages dont get stolen....but if a customer works from home, or are retired, why cant they try that front door option first! Chewey says they'll do it, but Fed Ex has a mind of their own! 

What if you bought smaller quantities of food/litter so you would need to re-stock Boogey's food sooner and then could use the coupons within the 30 day period.  Would that work out financially......

[mspatmac]

My take is their trying to stay in business by cutting where they can.  

@Tinkrbl44 

[Tinkrbl44]

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@Icegoddess wrote:

At the moment they still carry the brands of canned cat foods I like to feed my cats and Petsmart doesn't, at least they didn't last time I was in their store.  So, I'll keep shopping there.  With Chewy I would have to buy a case of only one brand, one flavor.  I like to mix it up.  I save a little by taking my litter containers in and refilling them myself.  

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@Icegoddess 

I saw that display and was wondering if I could buy a small amount, maybe just a pound, to mix it in with what I use now to try it out.   

Is that litter clay, or something else?   Is it scented or unscented?