Petco to deliver via Target’s Shipt

Petco shoppers who want to get Fido’s doggie toys and Kitty’s cat snacks dropped at their front door soon will be able to through Shipt, the same-day delivery service owned by Target.

Starting April 18, Petco will become the first pet-products seller available through Shipt, which had focused primarily on deliveries of groceries, paper towels and other household staples.

“With more than two-thirds of US households owning a pet, this addition makes Shipt’s personalized same-day delivery experience accessible to millions of pet families,” Kelly Caruso, Shipt’s CEO said in an email. With a service “that now stretches from the dinner table to the dog bowl ... we see that as a win-win.”

Pet owners in more than 200 markets will be able to get pet food and other supplies from roughly 1,300 Petco stores, an offering that could benefit nearly 70 million households, Shipt says. Though Target owns the online delivery company, customers still need to subscribe specifically to the Shipt service. Those who sign up before April 18, will get the $99 annual fee reduced to $49.

Members can place and pay for an order within the Shipt app, selecting a one-hour window in which it will be delivered that day. Then, its network of more than 100,000 shoppers will pick up, pack, and drop off the purchases.

Target bought Shipt for $550 million in 2017 as an enticement to shoppers who have grown used to the convenience and speed offered by Amazon and other online retailers. The addition of Petco enables the service to grab a share of the lucrative pet products market, which was worth roughly $49.6 billion last year, according to the retail consultancy GlobalData.