Global Pet Expo Takeaways Pet Beds

All in all, dog bed exhibitors considered Global Pet Expo a success. Some exhibitors noticed how many retailers’ attitudes have shifted from centering around Covid to getting back to business. Dog beds suppliers are aware of the hardships retailers face and the intense pressure they are under on a daily basis. These companies are supporting burnt out retailers by swiftly shipping products to them and making good on promises to deliver products to continue serving pet owners.

“The show was a success especially since it was our first show back to Global Pet Expo since Covid,” said Tina Nguyen, Founder and CEO of Jax & Bones. “We encountered some independent stores that haven’t shopped at shows since before Covid, so it showed us many stores were still financially strong. Overall, we found many buyers motivated and there was great energy at the show to find new stuff and just reconnect with us.”

“We were very happy with the show,” said Brian O’Donnell, VP of Operations for Snoozer Pet Products. “We thought attendance was good and the buyers that were there were much higher quality than normal. It was a very active show. Every show has its slow times, but I thought the show was very busy. We were busy. We had six people in our booth and the first day, at least six hours of it, we needed every [one of our six people] person in there. I thought it was a pretty good show. We were happy.”

Measuring how successful a tradeshow ultimately was boils down to execution, Molly Mutt Co-Founder Art Simon said. “It’s all about execution; the customer doesn’t see it in the booth, the customer doesn’t see it in your mind. The customer only sees it when it’s on the sales floor,” he said. “You can’t really talk about a show until several months after the show. I was in retail for many years, and we would have these great shows and see so many great products and come back so excited, but I soon realized it was about execution. You may have seen the great things, but did you act on it? Did you get them into the store? Did you get them where the customer can see them? That’s what makes a great show. Having great meetings at a show, that’s certainly great, and it’s wonderful to see everybody, but the number of times that you hear people say, ‘Oh I meant to order this last year.’ From our point of view, it’s that several months after the show that you really find out whether or not the show was a success.”

Jax & Bones quickly realized many retailers are interested in streamlining the number of brands they carry in stores and are leaning towards manufacturers that represent several categories. “We found that many clients were looking to consolidate their buying to our line since we were a one-stop shop carrying beds, toys, bowls and poop bag accessories,” Nguyen said.

Snoozer Pet has been reaching out to retailers through e-mail campaigns. “We’ve started an e-mail program that’s a lot more active than it has been in the past,” O’Donnell said. “Trying to target directly to the store owners. We don’t deal with distributors. We need to go directly to the stores. We’ve started that and hopefully that will be getting people started.”

Molly Mutt realizes most retailers lack bandwidth and resources and has set up channels to allow for retailers to communicate and connect with Molly Mutt around the retailer’s schedule. “We’re always happy to talk to our stores,” Simon said. “But we launched a new wholesale website last year for stores who want to engage with that. It’s going to have all the products, all the information. They could order right on it; if the item is orderable and it’s in stock. It makes it a very efficient way to engage with Molly Mutt, and we offer folks a free shipping option who do order that way. We’re also available on sites including Wholesale Pet. Becoming accessible where and how and when stores have the time to focus on Molly Mutt is what we want to do.”

Simon’s experience on the retail side has allowed for Molly Mutt to offer a unique level of empathy for their retail partners. As such, the company advocates for its retailers by taking their responsibilities as a manufacturing partner seriously. “These days the pressure that’s on independent stores is so intense,” Simon said. “It always has been. The challenges of finding people, the challenges of finding products, the challenges of being able to manage the whole enterprise—it’s a bear. From our point of view, we try to make it as easy as we can—shipping on time, shipping as full as we can possibly ship so people know if they order it, it’s going to get there and it’s going to get there quick. And again, it’s about execution because at this point, we’re 14 years in and we have so many great friends in the industry and it’s great to see them all, and nothing takes away from that, but we never lose sight of the fact that our responsibility is developing and delivering products so that stores can delight their customers.”

One major takeaway for Jax & Bones during the show was the ability to connect with retailers who share similar priorities and goals, namely practicing sustainability measures. “Sustainability has been a key mission for our company since 2006 and this year, we decided to use QRC codes to centralize our line sheets or catalogs,” Nguyen said. “We found that many visitors appreciated this and so we will be continuing this action.”

“People want to know when they walk into a store, that the personality of that store is there and either that store manager and their team or that owner has really put a point of view in front of that customer,” Simon said. “That’s what makes great retail and that’s what is going to encourage somebody to pass a national chain or to get off from their computer and go visit somewhere, when the payoff is when they walk into a store and they go, ‘Wow, this is a great selection of products.’ You could give five different store owners the same groups of products and maybe four of them are going to set them up similarly, but the one who really puts some energy behind it and presents it in a different way is the one who is most likely going to stand out. One of the great things about retail is it doesn’t matter how good the sales were or how great everybody was yesterday; you have to do it all over again every day, and you must approach it with that same kind of energy.”