What is it with pet supplies and Internet booms?
Forrester Research, a market research company, projects that sales of pet supplies will grow 30 percent this year, down from 81 percent last year, part of a barrage of statistics used by the New York Times to cry out that online sales are now slowing overall.
Pets.com and its sock puppet (pictured on top), of course, symbolized the boom and bust of the last Internet era, going from IPO on Nasdaq to liquidation in nine months. It was best known for its Super Bowl ad, which cost the company $1.2 million.
Now, Pet Food Direct, of Harleysville, Pa., an online pet food retailer that was born right around the time of Pets.com’s demise in 2000, has raised $10 million to — what else? — spend on its advertising and marketing.
The difference is that this time the backer is a private equity firm: LLR Partners. Pet Food Direct has already raised $16 million.
Another difference is that online pet supplies are indeed growing, at a healthy 30 percent clip, even if that growth rate is down significantly.
3 Comments
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Ben said:
Market growth or not, that’s still really unnerving.
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steve said:
Strangely, as an aquariast, returning to tropical fish after 20 years without a tank, I have come to rely extensively on drsfostersmith dot com. Not sure if they are a startup or a bricks/mortar extension. Local aquarium stores are expensive and under-stocked. DrsFS has many more areas such as dogs and cats. But, fish is surely be a meaningful niche for them as it is for me. Just yesterday I ordered a replacement ultraviolet filter bulb, 3 500 ml bottles of Tetra Blackwater extract, and one 500ml bottle of water conditioner. Sixty bucks. But, had I bought just three 250 ml bottles of BW extract at the local store, it would have cost nearly $30. Not all savings are this big, but it is welcome. Aquariums today (with farm raised fish being so sensitive) are like big inkjet printers — a purchase that leads to a constant need for replacement supplies (my guess is the maring on this UV bulb is pretty good). And I limit myself to freshwater tropicals. I can only wonder about salt water setups. Sorry for the long post, but thought this deserved a testimonial.
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Chris said:
If they are spending that kind of money on marketing, they really should have a better logo ;)
One Trackback
1:20 pm
The obvious sign of a bubble: pet food said:
[...] Well, this sure makes me a little worried. Even if online pet supplies apparently are growing at a rate of 30% annually, it’s interesting when a pet supplier has raised a total of $26 million. Especially with that design…considering the latest investment ($10 million) they should be able to get an ok designer. OMG. [...]