Fast Forward, Part 5: Pet Shops
A 6-part series on creative future approaches to retail
Featured in A1 Retail Magazine
Part Five: Pet Shops
By Emma Gullick, Associate Creative Director at design agency Phoenix Wharf
From increased sales figures reported by pet store chains and a boost to adoptions from abandoned pets’ charities to newspaper reports on a temporary puppy drought during lockdown, the past year has witnessed a boom in both pet ownership and pet-related purchases.
Fuelled by social isolation and the increased ‘humanisation’ of animals, with pets increasingly considered part of the family and more socially-permissible in both offices and hospitality spaces, what kind of future-facing pet shops might we see?
The new breed of owners
The emerging breed of new owners will directly project their own standards and interests on this sector. On the one hand, this will mean an increased, Millennial-driven focus on health and wellbeing, including science-informed nutrition, alongside an eco-ethical mindset in the form of packaging-free food refill stations and cost-saving economies of scale via subscription-based home deliveries. On the other hand, there’s a complimentary, even contradictory, drive towards luxury and status purchasing, with increasing examples of ‘designed’ apparel and even limited-edition streetwear specials coming onto the market, as well as a taste for the exotic in the choice of animals. Generation Instagram has used the #pets hashtag over 83 million times to date, with pets increasingly serving as status signifiers.
Pet-less stores
A trend that will only become more pronounced is stores with no live on-site animals, partnering instead with reliable local breeders for everything from birds and bats to spiders and spaniels. Stores will become more experiential, serving as product-and-service hubs and education centres, with informative owners’ clubs proposed for every variety of pet. Flexible instore areas could be designed as cost-effective, pop-up modules, to be used for daytime grooming, massage or behavioural consultations, whilst transforming in the evening into event spaces for new product launches or specialist speakers on everything from beginners’ guides to hamster-owning to advanced dog training, with pull-out seating and retractable projector screens.
Food trends
Food product areas will be laden with health information and vet-recommended products, with trends including lab-grown, meat-free produce and carbon neutral or insecticide-free certification. Monthly subscriptions could also link up with veterinary deliveries for regular pet medications.
From apparel to AI
The two highest value areas for the new-gen pet retailer will be apparel and tech. For dog owners in particular, the sky’s the limit when it comes to fashion finishes and personalisation right now, including coats, leads, carry-bags – and toys. A sizing table would allow try-ons of different sizes and fits. Pets will also benefit from developments in home tech, with devices now coming onstream ranging from litterboxes that monitor pet health to AI robots that act as a fitness buddies to entertain your pets when you’re not at home.
Thank you for reading!
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