Pros
The guest is truly appreciative to get solutions to pet problems. Animal care is a major focus. There is the freedom to accommodate a guest on pricing. Good, yet still limited, selection of home brands pet food meant to compete with National brands. Focus on an omni-channel delivery of product and services to the guest.
Cons
Leadership often employs a punitive and juvenile approach to achieve long term goals. The current ranking and metric report and compliance system in place alienates both Leaders and Partners as to our true aspirational goals. Using weekly conference calls to berate and humiliate store leaders in front of their peers does not inspire better performance. Having exceeded in the ultimate goal of back to flat comp sales for the year you are challenged in less than inspiring ways if a weekly metric falls. There are no meaningful considerations for local market conditions, present staffing levels or hiring challenges. There is no real sense of urgency or understanding as to how the replace the products that contain artificial color, flavor or preservative. There must be a competitive and comparably priced alternative in place and by assortment and tonnage (50-70 items in Fancy Feast-Friskies) in order to make this a reality. Own brand sales only work when it does not alienate the budget minded guest. I can see this strategy failing because it seems preachy and/or didactic. Yes, we want what is best for the pet, but if I got one hint that my decision to buy on a budget made me a lesser pet parent I would take my business elsewhere. That is a real a present danger in taking on this transformation and no amount of coaching, practice or empathy is going to make this less challenging, unless there are viable alternatives at budget pricing and comparable variety.
