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Pet Supply Fulfillment: Industry Spotlight On Order And Inventory Management

Pet Supply Fulfillment: Industry Spotlight On Order And Inventory Management

People love their pets! Over the past ten years, as our pets have evolved into family members, the pet food and pet supply industry has experienced staggering growth. More dogs are accompanying their owners into big box stores and going on family vacations than ever before. Pet owners are spending more to make their four-legged family members comfortable, as well as choosing organic and grain-free foods and supplements that address many animal health concerns, such as arthritis, hot spots and other conditions.

The American Pets Products Association (APPA) reported that in the span of time between 1994 and 2016, even during recessions, the pet supply industry not only kept growing, but that in 1994, “Americans spent $17 billion on their pets. By 2016, spending nearly quadrupled to an estimated $62.75 billion, and it doesn’t look to be slowing down. In fact, by 2020, the pet industry could hit $96 billion in sales.”

What Products Are Consumers Purchasing For Their Pets?

The APPA’s 2015 breakdown of the various trends in pet supply segments shows that we are still spending the most money on pet food, with non-vet pet health supplies running neck and neck with vet services:

  • Food – $23.05 billion
  • Supplies/OTC medicine – $14.28 billion
  • Vet Care – $15.42 billion
  • Live animal purchases – $2.12 billion
  • Pet Services (includes walking, sitting, training, grooming and boarding) – $5.41 billion

Interestingly, live animal sales decreased with more people choosing to adopt pets from shelters and rescue programs. The good news: The human consciousness seems to be evolving.

Increasing E-Commerce Sales Make Pet Supplies More Accessible

With more households investing in more pets, better food, treats, supplements and pet-related, non-vet services, the big box pet supply companies are stepping up their product lines, offering products that can only be purchased online for in-store pickup or shipped to pet owners. Suffice it to say, online pet supply companies are flourishing, with an increasingly vast variety of products to choose from. Organic foods and grain-free pet products have been on the market for a while now but are getting marketing boosts from celebrity pet food product lines, such as Rachel Ray’s, as well as the Newman’s Own brand and new organic pet product lines, such as Blue Buffalo.

Technology Gets Into The Pet Supply Biz

As part of our technologically driven lifestyles, we can indulge our pets in remote treat dispersal, remote pet monitoring and other surveillance devices to keep the increasing parade of pet-walkers and pet-sitters on their toes. As ecommerce sales continue to grow in the pet supply segment, online vendors face unique challenges in order fulfillment and inventory management.

Keeping Up With Your Inventory And Where To Store Products

Just inventory management alone can be overwhelming, as pet supplies can include anything from parakeet food and dog treats to large items, such as oversized dry pet food bags, animal enclosures and large pet bedding. Where do you keep all of this inventory?

One of the advantages of owning a virtual store should be the money you save by not paying rent for a brick and mortar storefront, right? But with such a varied inventory, you need a place to store and manage that inventory. Outsourcing your fulfillment and inventory management operations might be just the right thing for your growing pet supply company.

Phase V Fulfillment Company Gets Your Pet Supply Products To Your Customers On Time And More

Since products delivered on time and appropriately packaged translate into increased sales with repeat business, Phase V’s third-party logistics can streamline your storage, order fulfillment and inventory management systems with one, comprehensive plan. We learn about your company and help you design a plan that automates your packing and shipping processes. From our warehouse in Ft. Myers, FL, we inspect and inventory your products, assigning SKUs for easy location and identification.

Pet Products With Special Handling And Shipping Needs

Phase V partners with you to provide the fastest, most cost-efficient distribution plans for your pet products, domestically and internationally. Pet products can be packaged in a number of different ways in order to optimize your shipping options. Creating master cases at a discount for fast-moving products, such as cat treats can save you and your customer money. Kitting and bundling products can help sell smaller products as part of a larger theme. For oversized, heavy items needing special handling instructions, let Phase V shipping experts compare freight costs with less than truckload (LTL) shippers to find the most reasonable freight rates to get your orders to your customers, cost efficiently, with no extra costs incurred due to poor advanced planning and other time and weight considerations.

Assembly

Your experienced assembly team, with over 30 years in pick and pack services, follows your detailed knitting instructions to prepare your products for secure shipping. Using branded packaging materials, invoices, bills of lading and shipping labels, your products arrive in your customers’ hands as if they were shipped directly from you.

Inventory Management

Tracking orders and monitoring your pet product inventory is simple with Phase V’s data driven, web-based software that gives you real time inventory updates 24/7. With our state-of-the-art inventory software, you can receive low inventory reports in order to avoid out of stock issues. You can generate reports that forecast upcoming seasonal expectations and analyze data for better product management, as well as helping you perform daily admin tasks, such as viewing and editing existing orders, viewing invoices, checking return statuses and more.

Customer Service

Pet owners expect a lot from their online pet product suppliers. Our customer service team is standing by to provide the live customer support pet owners expect. Our customer care staff handles returns in the same, timely fashion as original orders. At Phase V, we know that, reliable fast, cost-efficient service reflects your company’s image in return sales that add up to brand loyalty and increased sales.

With more and more interest in pets, pet supplies are set to hit all-time sales highs, at an increasing rate, until who knows when. With more online pet supply companies and diversified product lines hitting the market, it pays to get all of your dogs, cats, fish, birds and turtles in a row. Let Phase V devise a plan custom-built for your growing pet supply company’s order fulfillment and inventory processes.

Contact Phase V to find out how we can help your pet product company prepare for increasing expansion, as rising pet trends become pet norms.

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