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This past week I attended The Pet Food Forum in Chicago; a conference of pet industry experts such as nutritionists, chemists, manufacturers, marketers, brand managers, packaging companies and suppliers who provide raw ingredients to pet food companies. There were several interesting seminars and round table meetings focused on how to continually improve the quality of pet food.
One session I attended was about how consumers choose a pet food. For example, more and more people are reading package labels and asking about ingredients in the pet food. However, a recent consumer survey indicated that consumers evaluate a pet food by more than just the label; consumers are doing research online, visiting brand websites, reading message boards and social networking sites too. The majority of people also indicated that they still prefer to ask a store associate in a pet store for advice on what food brand to feed their pet.
Pet Food Forum Entrance
Consumers have an expectation that premium and natural foods need to improve the overall health of their pet. Many attendees agreed that new innovation and technology would be essential to meet consumer expectations for their pets to live longer, healthier lives. In general, the quality of most pet foods has improved over the past 20 years, but today’s range of super-premium, natural and organic foods are among the very best on the market. The pet industry intends to develop even more advanced nutrition options in the coming years.
There were several other cool sessions, particularly one about Guerilla marketing. They discussed how marketing has evolved to include a more targeted approach, rather than just generic newspaper advertising. They also mentioned how consumers today are turning to the internet to discuss food brands, ask for opinions of other pet parents, and using customer reviews to form opinions about pet foods. I agree, I use the internet for information before I buy just about anything new.
After spending a few days at the Pet Food Forum, it was clear there are a large number of people working across the pet industry who truly love pets. In speaking with attendees from various pet food companies, I could sense their commitment to make the best quality pet foods. It was a fun learning experience and a great opportunity to represent PETCO to the entire pet food industry.
I worked for petco in oregon, got fired and didn’t receive my last paycheck from them within 24 hours as per oregon law. And when i called all they did was give me the run around. Don’t work for this company.
T.F.,
Thanks for calling this to our attention. We’ve alerted our Employee Relations team and are working to resolve this issue for you as quickly as possible.
I have to say I tend to agree with this article to a point. I as a pet owner do my research for my dog food online and I also chat with other dog owners online in forums. I personally (as well as a few others out there) dont’ really believe that most of the pet food companies out there care about what they are putting into our dogs/cats. They are all about the profit. I’ve been doing my research and I have gone to feeding my dogs RAW and supplment them with GRAIN FREE kibble. Now that is to say if I can believe the ingredients on the bag. Which alot of consumers are inclinded not to do now. The pet food industry has lost our faith.
I do wish that Petco would offer a better variety of specialized food – not just the generic that you can find at any corner store.
I would LOVE Petco and Petsmart to both sell Nature’s Variety RAW, Nature’s Variety Instict along with Merrick’s before grain dog food and the entire line of Merrick’s quality food.
Please think about this. It is getting harder to find a good food locally. I personally have to order my kibble online and have it delivered because it can’t be found NEAR me.
Tracy’s story sounds like mine. I travel twenty miles every two weeks for real, grain-free dog food. Allergies and most vet visits can be avoided with a little research about what your dog really needs. What sounds good (and even smells good) to people isn’t necessarily what is good quality food for our dog friends. I came on this site to check on dental care and was surprised to see nothing about raw bones! The single best thing for a dogs teeth is a raw bone. I get bones by the bag-full at a local butcher where I also get meat. A good diet will reduce the amount of food your dog will need, reduce yard clean-up and hopefully wake up the commercial producers to something that can improve their bottom line other than advertising and fillers.