Dear Reader,
Our process for choosing which products to carry at The Pet Depot is fairly simple. We ask ourselves three questions:
Are the inherent qualities of the product worth selling?
Is there support and commitment from the supplier?
Is the product selling at a sound price?
In some cases, all three questions can easily be answered with a yes, which then leads us to place the product on our shelves. More often, however, discerning the answers to these questions can be complicated. Business is often treated as a calculated and numerical exercise, but to us, it is closer to an art. This is because our focus is primarily qualitative rather than purely quantitative.
One of our most useful tools in assessing quality is the use of heuristics and sound judgment. These guide us toward the real question at hand: Can this product be trusted? We will not sell anything we cannot trust. From there, we can move forward and determine which brands are worthy of our attention.
Health & Wellness
The most objective way to determine whether a product is worth trusting is to read its ingredients and understand its practical function. That said, products built mainly on fads or non-essential features—such as excessive flavoring or elaborate packaging—are generally excluded from our consideration. Instead, we focus on products that genuinely improve the well-being of pets.
Accordingly, we pay close attention to the following categories:
Nutrition
We focus on products that support gut health, high nutrient absorption, palatability, fecal odor reduction, and disease prevention. We prefer brands with recognized local and global certifications such as AAFCO, FDA HACCP, ISO, BRCGS, and BAI. Our reasoning is not that certification alone guarantees quality, but rather that products meeting our standards should also meet those of these agencies. As an added consideration, we look for products with meaningful distinctions, such as the inclusion of prebiotics and probiotics.
Pharmacy & Supplements
Our focus here is on quality, veterinary approval, scientific grounding, and compliance with regulatory agencies. We aim to offer brands that veterinarians themselves can trust.
Grooming
We focus on purposeful grooming products—items that are practical, effective, and enhance the daily lives of both pets and their owners.
Durable Goods
We give priority to quality materials, sound construction, and, above all, safety for pets.
Once we have objectively assessed the product itself, we can then move on to evaluating the longevity and reliability of the brand owner: the supplier.
Support and Commitment from Suppliers
A good product can only last as long as its brand owner continues to care for it in a sustainable manner. The primary stakeholder is always the customer, and this requires a clear commitment to maintaining quality without compromise.
Next is the supplier’s responsibility to keep pricing consistent and transparent, ensuring that both consumers and retailers are protected from confusion, instability, and needless price erosion. Lastly, we look for a willingness to educate—helping customers and retailers understand the product’s purpose and proper use.
Together, these three commitments help keep brands viable over time by:
creating genuine value for consumers,
preserving the compounding effect of product availability through fair and consistent pricing, and
reaffirming the product’s relevance in a crowded marketplace.
All you need. Thoughtfully priced.
Our final criterion—and often the most difficult—is determining whether a product is selling at a sound price. Value is subjective, and a sound price implies a reasonable relationship between value and cost. We therefore assess value based on the overall impact of the product, particularly its ability to prevent unfavorable or costly outcomes.
If a product, given its objective merits and the support of its brand owner, can help prevent future health problems and improve a pet’s overall well-being, then what may appear to be a premium purchase may, in fact, be a prudent one. In this sense, the price paid today may already reduce the likelihood of paying a much higher price tomorrow.
As the saying goes: price is what you pay, value is what you get. Our role is to help ensure that you great products at a fair price. Not all highly priced products are necessarily premium, and not all affordably priced products are inferior. Through thoughtful curation, we aim to provide an experience in which every purchase represents sound judgment and lasting value.
Sincerely,
Christopher
President