Petco’s erstwhile CMO Tariq Hassan is the first to admit that his job’s probably been easier than most CMOs. “People have this incredibly emotional commitment to their pets,” he says. “As a result, it allows us to create a very different dialogue with the customer.”
And it’s that dialogue that’s building relationships—and fueling growth. In Q1 2021, for example, revenue was up 27% to $1.4 billion.
That’s despite a pandemic that, for many retailers with a brick-and-mortar presence, has spelled doom or close to it. Petco, however, weathered the storm of 2020 and emerged arguably stronger than it was before the chaos began.
How? In a word, wellness.
As it turns out, that consumer buzzword applies to pets, too. Even before Covid-19, Petco had been making itself into a one-stop,…
