In recent years, the e-commerce market has been growing at a record pace, due to marketplaces among other ways. Aleksander Kolchin, Director of Content at the Information and Publishing Centre «Zooinform» and Business Coach for Sales, spoke about efficient tools for increasing the market share of pet stores at the International Business Exhibition of Goods and Services for Pets «Zooindustry 2025».

In his speech «How pet stores can win in the confrontation with marketplaces», Aleksander Kolchin recalled that at the beginning of 2020, few people were interested in purchasing goods on marketplaces, but because of the quarantine, sales increased significantly in May, and goods for pets were no exception.

«And in 5 years, marketplaces have made a revolution. This is a major sales channel and competitor for many industries», said Aleksander Kolchin.

The expert cited the statistics provided by the research company «Nielsen», according to which the online trading channel remains the fastest growing, but its growth has been slowing recently. If in November 2023, the share of online sales in monetary terms was 41%, in October 2024, it was already 22%. In 2025, Aleksander Kolchin predicts the stabilization of this segment. The calculations consider not only marketplaces, but also online pet store platforms.

According to Aleksander Kolchin, besides fast delivery and a wide range of products, marketplaces have a lot of vulnerabilities. Counterfeits and low-quality goods may be presented on marketplaces.

«A marketplace with a trillion-dollar turnover, registered as an IT company, is not always responsible for counterfeit and low-quality goods. The same situation applies to product certification. The marketplace requires a scanned copy of the document or its number from the supplier, but it is not possible for the marketplace to verify its authenticity in relation to all products presented there», says Aleksander Kolchin.

Moreover, marketplaces are not members of the system «Honest Sign». «When accepting the goods, they can check the presence of the mark, but cannot check either its validity or compliance with the category, or to whom this mark was issued», he adds.

For strengthening their position in the market, Aleksander Kolchin recommended pet stores paying attention to their own strengths. If you look at the structure of the four types of products presented in the market (cat food, dog food, animal litters and treats), their share differs depending on the sales channel: pet stores, modern retail (supermarkets) and online. So, in pet stores, people most buy treats — 9.1% (supermarkets — 3.5%, e-commerce — 1.8%). This is due to the fact that this product category is an emotional purchase, and such purchases are more often made offline, plus the goods are located in the cash-register area. In this regard, Aleksander Kolchin recommended strengthening this position.

Another product category worth paying attention to is litters, sales of which are approximately the same online and in pet stores (9.5% and 10%, respectively). «There are an average of 27 SKUs per store, which means that people want not only to buy, but also to see the assortment structure. At some outlets, it is possible to see the shape and size of the pellets», he said.

The share of sales of cat food online and in pet stores is approximately the same (54.5% and 56.4%, respectively), so the product range can be expanded, he added.

The online segment has seriously overtook other sales channels in the dog food category. According to the expert, the reason is obvious: in most cases, the packages are very heavy, and the possibility of delivery plays a crucial role in this matter. In this regard, he advised organizing at the pet store online sales and fast delivery, for the purpose of providing the same usability as marketplaces do. Another option is selling feed by weight. In general, the most popular pet supplies in online sales are dry food and litters, which is again explained by the convenience of delivery.

Advantages of pet stores over marketplaces are high-quality products and proper storage of the goods, as well as live communication with consultants. «Improving the pet-owner communication service will be the trump card of offline stores», added the expert. For increasing sales, he also advised holding events with invited experts and sweepstakes.