Wag.com, which launches today, sells and ships pet supplies. Yes, it's déjà vu all over again.
But before we get too carried away with the Pets.com-inspired derision, let's remember that Amazon recently shelled out $540 million to buy Quidsi, the company behind this latest attempt to take pet care into the Internet age.
I'm not going to suggest that I know more about selling stuff online and shipping it to customers than does Amazon. Are you?
Quidsi is hoping to do for pet supplies what it was already done for baby products with Diapers.com and cleanliness with Soap.com. Those sites are targeted at young mothers and have garnered enough success to generate positive buzz and prompt Amazon to fork over serious money to buy the company.
From the Quidsi press release:
With more than 10,000 products for dogs, cats, birds, fish, reptiles and other small animals, Wag.com offers passionate pet parents all they need to care for their pet. The site carries food, treats, litter, toys, vitamins and health goods, grooming supplies, clothing, accessories and more. Wag.com also features specialty collections, including a Pampered Pet Boutique with premium items for the discriminating pet, and a New Pet Center where new pet parents can conveniently find everything they need.
"Seventy-three million American households count pets as family members, yet only a small portion of those households are ordering pet products online," said Marc Lore, CEO of Quidsi. "Since we launched Diapers.com in 2005, our customers have been asking for a site dedicated to the other baby in the family."
Company executives say Wag.com will succeed where Pets.com did not because they have a better handle on the logistics and shipping challenges and they recognize that the money is in the premium purchases, not commodity products like dog food.
Shipping is free if you buy at least $49 worth of stuff.
Granted, I am not Wag.com's target customer -- wrong gender, wrong generation - but I thought I'd take a look at the inventory anyway.
I have only one recurring pet need: providing food for Scooter, our leopard gecko. Every other week, I drive to a Petco in the next town over and purchase 18 large crickets for about $2.50. As you might expect, there are times when I am doing this that I would rather be doing something else.
Might Wag.com be able to free me of this chore?
Let's see: There's a "reptiles" section, which gives me hope. I enter "crickets" into the search box and, sure enough, up pops a page featuring "Can o' Crickets."
Maybe we're on to something. The description reads: "Adult size crickets. Ideal for most lizards, turtles, fish, birds and small animals."
The price? A not unreasonable $4.29, although I'd have to pay $4.99 for shipping.
Guess I'll keep driving to Petco.
(Update: I clearly have failed to keep up on this booming market, as a public relations professional representing PetFlow.com informs me that his client launched their pet-supplies site last year. I did not check that one for crickets.)
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