Chewy racked up record sales on Cyber Monday as 'pet parents' splurged on holiday gifts
- Chewy racked up record sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday by capitalizing on people's growing demand to buy holiday gifts for their pets.
- "It's the season of gifting," CEO Sumit Singh said at a UBS conference this week. "And for consumers to call themselves 'pet parents,' the same dynamic applies in the way that we treat our family members. So we took advantage of that."
- The online pet-products retailer opened a Holiday Shop focused on private-label products, and drove sales using a multi-channel marketing campaign and improved product recommendations.
- Cyber Monday was the "single biggest shopping day in our company's history," Singh said.
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Chewy racked up record sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday by capitalizing on people's growing desire to buy holiday gifts for their pets.
"We've always realized that pets don't eat more in Q4, just as they don't eat less in Q4," CEO Sumit Singh said at a UBS conference this week, in response to an analyst's question about the importance of the holiday season to the online pet-products retailer.
However, a rising number of people see their pets as family members and want to buy them presents during the holidays.
"It's the season of gifting," Singh said. "And for consumers to call themselves 'pet parents,' the same dynamic applies in the way that we treat our family members. So we took advantage of that."
Chewy broke its sales record on Black Friday, and Cyber Monday was the "single biggest shopping day in our company's history," Singh said on the group's third-quarter earnings call this week.
The retailer cashed in on pet parents' demand for gifts by opening an online Holiday Shop stocked with an expanded range of seasonal pet toys, treats, costumes, and clothing, Singh said.
Chewy got the message out through website promotions and digital, social media, and email marketing. It improved its recommendation engine to deliver smarter, better-targeted product suggestions to customers. And it doubled down on private-label products, including new holiday toys and dog beds under its Frisco brand.
When Chewy went public in June, part of its pitch to investors was the growing trend of "pet humanization." More than 90% of dog owners and 86% of cat owners consider their pets to be part of their family, according to Packaged Facts, a market-research firm.
