DISCUSSION
Why is Petco doubling down on same-day delivery with Shipt and Instacart?
Written by Tom Ryan
Photo: Petco/Instagram - benji.and.ollie
Petco announced that it is partnering with Target-owned Shipt to expand its same-day delivery options.
A Petco spokesperson told RetailWire that the Shipt partnership is in addition to an existing delivery deal with Instacart’s PetcoNow same-day offering.
On April 18, Shipt began delivery from 1,300 Petco stores, giving nearly 70 million households access to Petco delivery in as soon as one-hour across more than 200 total markets nationwide, according to a statement.
Petco’s initial partnership formed with Instacart in 2015 was hailed as the first on-demand delivery service in the pet specialty channel and it now serves most major cities.
Petco’s Shipt expansion comes as retailers across channels increasingly embrace same-store delivery. On April, Ace Hardware announced the addition of a "buy online, deliver from store" fulfillment option that provides for same-day, next-day or standard delivery at certain locations. Home Depot, Best Buy and Staples are other non-grocery sellers that have expanded same-store delivery coverage in recent years.
For Shipt, which has focused on grocery and household necessities such as paper towels and batteries, pets represent a new category. Shipt noted that more than two-thirds of U.S. households own a pet.
Speaking to USA Today, Neil Saunders, managing director at GlobalData, said the move into pets makes more sense for Shipt than for Target, which acquired Shipt for $550 million in 2017. “Target sells pet food, and it has an increasing range of pet products under its Boots & Barkley own-brand,” said Mr. Saunders. “Its main objective should be to get people buying those products rather than going to competitors."