11PETS: Shop

Host Organisation:	11PETS LTD
Project Budget:	149.998,70 €
IDEK Funding:	119.998,00 €

The recent COVID-19 pandemic had a severe economic effect on retail shops. This is also true for retailers of pet products.

Although nutrition for live animals, is a primary necessity, the supply chain did not follow the same path as for humans. This obliged a large percentage of pet owners, to turn to e-commerce with a major impact on pet retailers, namely pet-shops, grooming salons and veterinary practices. These retailers are known in the industry as the “pet specialty channel”.

The reason for which almost 80% families with pets (Section B2.2), prefer the pet specialty channel rather than large e-commerce sites, is due to the personalized care and expertise of the staff. These retailers have the training and knowledge to advise pet families for most aspects of their daily needs that do not need the attention of a veterinarian. On the contrary, the online shops cannot offer this. It is this need for personalized care the reason for which in the pet-industry, e-commerce is not yet dominating the market.

The lockdowns and the restricted mobility due to the COVID-19 pandemic had a huge effect of the families with pets and their relationship with the pet specialty channel. Shops lost significant earnings and families where deprived from the guidance and personalized service they receive from them. In addition, many pet-industry consumers surveys suggest that there will be permanent post COVID-19 effect. Therefore, it is critical for stores to adapt quickly and accordingly to the changing landscape in order to defend their revenues and maintain their relationships with pet parents.

11pets: Shop enables the pet retailers to offer a premium service to customers for purchasing goods and receiving the necessary one-to-one personal care and guiding. It builds on-top of the 11pets pet-centric software ecosystem which has more than 45K active users from all over the world.