Petmate is the largest supplier of products for PetSmart. As an leader in the industry, PetSmart asked if we could evaluate their current category management. To continue to add value, the exercise became much larger than a numbers game and really gave us a chance to show our capabilities as well.
By evaluating the over-all experience and confusion presented to shoppers, the answer was to changed how people shopped. It was also a chance to take what we leaned in our research and add in the humanization of our pets that has become more prevalent.
The concept I created was to “shop by size” and to utilize a color code system to aid in the continued experience through the store, allowing the shopper to find what they need for their pet by color. By adding personality cues for animals and creating way finding for the various products, this system proved to be a great success and was overwhelming embraced in focus groups.
The exercise was such a success that PetSmart asked us to do the same thing throughout all their categories and also earned the Vendor of The Year Award.
