Can Petco's Stores Save It From Chewy And Amazon? This is an excerpt from Thursday's (6|3) Point of Sale retail supply chain newsletter sponsored by ArcBest. Plants are the new pets and pets are the new kids. This is the sentiment I hear often in my friend group and on social media. Younger generations are waiting longer to have children and are having fewer of them. Younger people, like myself, are giving our excess care to pets and when the pandemic locked us inside, pet adoption skyrocketed. This trend has been a boon for pet and wellness companies, both digitally native and traditional brick-and-mortar players. The intense battle between pet companies for market share and pet parents' trust was well underway prior to the pandemic, but all these new furry friends have intensified it. On Petco 's (NASDAQ: WOOF ) Q1 earnings call, Chairman and CEO Ron Coughlin spoke directly about what he believes is his company's competitive advantage over Chewy (NYSE: CHWY ), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN ), and other online peers. "Our structural advantage of 1,453 micro-distribution points through our Pet Care Centers is a strategic differentiator versus pure-play online competitors," Coughlin said. "We can get to the customer faster for lower cost than shipping from a DC." Petco has been able to leverage its stores to fulfill 83% of online sales through ship-from-store, same-day delivery and BOPIS.