The Pet Parents’ Prerogative
Petco's Jennifer Kovacs discusses trendsetting in the pet category and tapping into modern lifestyles.
As the pet category continues to grow exponentially, with new designer collaborations delighting pet parents regularly, Petco aims to deliver its customers a completely elevated experience. Founded in 1965, the specialty retailer is focused on improving the lives of pets and their owners by tapping into its customers' modern lifestyles.
In addition to offering its consumers a one-stop-shopping experience complete with training and grooming services, pet adoption opportunities and fresh food offerings, Petco has continued to evolve its product offerings to meet the growing needs of pet parents every occasion.
The company's own Reddy brand includes trend-inspired clothing with personalization options.
When thinking about the pet category, Jennifer Kovacs, vice president of design, collaborations and omni experience at Petco, told WWD trendsetting is much like any other category, “you have to immerse yourself in the lifestyle.”
Notably, Kovacs spent more than two decades at Nordstrom working in several merchandising roles before joining
Petco and said that she sees no end to the similarities across categories when it comes to trend forecasting. “You've got to look at brands and try to imagine that you are exactly that customer or the customer you're trying to get and see what it is they're doing and experiencing,” said Kovacs. “That's really the first part, is to get an idea of what you're seeing and what was interesting to me [starting at Petco] is that we start out with trend boards that you get from WGSN and I thought, ‘this is the exact same.' It's trends based on consumer lifestyle.”
Like the consumer lifestyle, the pet category is always evolving. Many young consumers are choosing to forgo having children, instead treating dogs and cats as their “fur babies” and giving them a larger role in their day-to-day lives. Pets have their own fashion, their own travel gear and their own furniture (“barkitecture”) at home.
“As pets continue to be more immersed into people's lifestyles, fashion is playing a bigger role and they merge together in the category,” said Kovacs. “I spent five years in the kids' category and it's a lot like that. We had a modern mom at the time and so we really had to take a look at our assortment to make sure that it was relevant to her and what's going on in her life. When you look at categories like supplements and grooming, like we are [at Petco], we are following all of the trends that started two to three years ago in beauty in the human world.”
While not all human trends are relevant to the pet space, Kovacs tells WWD they're all worth taking a look at and it's growing the landscape. Pet parents are embracing the pet category to express themselves and their pets and with this in mind, Kovacs said there's more space in the pet category for just about everything including luxury, calling out fashion and lifestyle in particular and noting the interest in innovations from pet consumers.
“Just like in the human world though, it's not an every-customer thing,” said Kovacs. “When I was at Nordstrom there was a brand in the adult world that was one of our top brands, just really hot at the time, and so when they were doing a kid's line, we were all excited thinking about the mom who wears the brand. The kid's line was beautiful, but it just didn't resonate. It's the same with pets, yes to more luxury and yes to premium products, but it has to be the right combination to be right.”
Kovacs points to Petco's in-house brand Reddy as an example of a premium pet brand that has successfully reached consumers. The brand, which first launched with a small collection for dogs in a limited color offering, has grown based on customer feedback asking for more colors and products. Reddy now has its own boutique in SoHo as well as a Reddy Shop in Petco's New York flagship which opened in Union Square this summer. Most recently, the brand has also grown to include a collection for cats.
Other brands at Petco include an apparel collaboration with Reebok and an apparel and lifestyle collection created in collaboration with Found My Animal.
“As far as the lifestyle goes, I do see it going deeper,” said Kovacs. “Today, you go out and you see dogs at restaurants and sometimes they have a special menu for the dog. That wasn't happening 10 years ago. Those are things we're thinking about because we want to make sure we're offering what you need for those outings, like a mat to put on the ground and the compact travel bowls that feel nice.”
Looking at upcoming trends, Kovacs told WWD there will be a lot more humanization of the pet category from new ways to fit into pet parents' lifestyles by making it easier to fashion that resonates. Notably, Petco's summer offerings included a Barbie collaboration with Canada Pooch.
For brands looking to get into the pet category, Kovacs advised taking note of the fashion that pets are already wearing and seeing what the pet parents are wearing as well. “You have to take a cue from the parents because it has to look great. Fashion is really important for home and apparel but it has to function as well.”