APPA hosted a COVID-19 themed webinar
Last Thursday April 30th, APPA hosted a webinar addressing the COVID-19 crisis in the pet industry. Four C-level decision makers in the American pet industry answered questions from their own experience with the corona crisis impact. There were 450+ attendees, watching the stream live and questions could be asked via the chat function.
The prediction is that business will not be affected so much as Packaged Facts’ estimated 23% drop. However, a double digit will be seen.
There is an unsurprising increase in online shopping. For instance, Chewy has seen an increase in turnover of 26%. A speaker said that companies should focus on getting their act together right now, because maintaining the business will be harder during a resurge in the virus than when you have adjusted now.
One of the tips is to change to BOPIS (buy online, pick up in store). Accordingly, 60% of shoppers is comparing prices in-store via their smartphones.
For companies that aren’t capable of major change, different steps could be taken as well. For example, customers can be served on the curbside, or they can be allowed in store, in small numbers and disinfected thoroughly.
The question if there was seen a shift to local-to-local sourcing was denied by two out of three respondents.
Also a comment on the expected protein shortage was unfortunately dodged due to time-issues.