Online Retailing

Hello! I would like to thank everyone for having me as a member at this forum. I work for a online pet supply store (ecommerce). I dont want to go against any rules on this forum so I will not post the site in this posting. What I am looking for is some feedback from cat owners:
1) Do you purchase more online or at a retail (store front) pet supply retailer?
2) If you purchase online, what do you mostly buy for your cat? ( food, toys, litter ect.)
3) What cat/dog food do you feed your cat/dog ?
4) What do you wish online pet supply retailers to carry more of? (suggestions)

Thank you everyone! Have a wonderful holiday!

1) Do you purchase more online or at a retail (store front) pet supply retailer? Online
2) If you purchase online, what do you mostly buy for your cat? ( food, toys, litter ect.)Food, Toys, Supplies (fountain, odor control, feliway, etc), medicine (flea control)
3) What cat/dog food do you feed your cat/dog ? Right now on Nutro Complete Care Indoor Kitten, but Changing to Orijen (currently waiting for shipment)
4) What do you wish online pet supply retailers to carry more of? Quite frankly, I haven't found any online PET store that carries everything I needed, so I get everything from Amazon.com; the reasons are a vast array of products and brands, and great prices.

Mostly I buy from the local pet store. When I've gone online, it is something that I can't usually find, mainly a larger selection of cat collars.

I typically purchase all of Sunny and our feral's supplies at the store. I did have an issue with a couple of our feral babies where I purchased medication for them online at a company recommended by a rescue group.

Originally Posted by petlandplus

Hello! I would like to thank everyone for having me as a member at this forum. I work for a online pet supply store (ecommerce). I dont want to go against any rules on this forum so I will not post the site in this posting. What I am looking for is some feedback from cat owners:
1) Do you purchase more online or at a retail (store front) pet supply retailer?
2) If you purchase online, what do you mostly buy for your cat? ( food, toys, litter ect.)
3) What cat/dog food do you feed your cat/dog ?
4) What do you wish online pet supply retailers to carry more of? (suggestions)

Thank you everyone! Have a wonderful holiday!

Click to expand...

1) There aren't any pet supply retailers around, and I don't want to pay shipping from online, so mostly I'm stuck with what they have at the drugstore or grocery.

2) When I do buy stuff online, it's always toys or scratching toy corrugated cardboard refills.

3) Iams and Friskies Indoor Selects (they are picky, try telling them to eat something better)

4) I've never not been able to find something. Engraved collar tags are nice.

I don't purchase online because duty, taxes and shipping make products too expensive since most online sites are in the US.

I live in a small town but near larger centres. I try to support our local small town pet store so anything I want she will order for me and hold it for me to pick up. It has worked very well for me as she never used to carry Merricks or Orijen and now stocks both and has other customers now using these products. One of her customers got a Ragdoll and the store owner told her about me feeding Merricks and Orijen so now that customer also buys those items.

1) Do you purchase more online or at a retail (store front) pet supply retailer? I purchase most pet supplies from a number of online retailers, largely due to their wider range and more favorable prices.
2) If you purchase online, what do you mostly buy for your cat? ( food, toys, litter etc.) Wet and dry food, litter, toys, food bowls, litter boxes, cat trees, etc.. Basically just about everything.
3) What cat/dog food do you feed your cat/dog ? Wet food: Almo natural, Applaws, Shesir (organic European brands), Ziwi Peak (New Zealand), Solid Gold; dry food: Orijen, Natural Balance, Solid Gold, the European versions of Innova and California Natural, Felidae, Eagle Pack Holistic.
4) What do you wish online pet supply retailers to carry more of? (suggestions) I'd like to see more brands of grain-free dry food offered in medium-sized bags, and a greater variety of high-quality wet food offered in small cans.

I've tended to buy from online retailers that offer the following:
- Free shipping for large orders
- The opportunity to sample various brands of dry and wet food. By that I mean you can order three or four brands of dry in half-pound bags, and two or three small cans of various brands of wet food at a "fixed" price. Being able to choose which brands go into the "sample package" is a big plus.
- Photos of the dry and wet foods displayed on plates, so you get a general idea of size and consistency.

1) Do you purchase more online or at a retail (store front) pet supply retailer? I purchase mostly at a local pet store (either Petsmart or Soldan's.)

2) If you purchase online, what do you mostly buy for your cat? ( food, toys, litter ect.) I have purchased all of my cat trees from Drs. Foster & Smith
I've also gotten a couple of electric heated cat beds from them. None of my local pet stores carried them. I get the girls Aluminum Hydroxide phosphorus binder from Thrivingpets.com I mail order Cleo's Calcitriol from a veterinary compounding pharmacy in Florida.

3) What cat/dog food do you feed your cat/dog? Since two of my girls have renal failure, I purchase most of their food from my vet. I also purchase some Hills Science Diet canned from PetSmart or Soldans (when they have a sale.)

4) What do you wish online pet supply retailers to carry more of? (suggestions) I've only found one on-line retailer that will carry prescription renal foods (Vetcentric.com). Unfortunately, they can, and do, charge quite a bit more than my vet charges. It would be nice to have another place to purchase prescription pet food.

I buy almost exclusively from local retailers, for many reasons. To start with, I guess I still prefer hands-on shopping. But also, as another poster noted, there is the issue of duty/taxes/shipping which inflate prices enormously. I'm fortunate to have a variety of good local retailers, and it's seldom that one of them does not have the product I want.

I feed Orijen dry and Fancy Feast for wet, since my little monsters consistently turn their noses up at any premium wet. If I ever find a premium they'll accept, that will change.

My favourite retailer has a mind-boggling array of food, toys, treats, scratching devices, litters, carriers, collars (including Tenth Life, which is the only brand I will buy), and whatnot, so I really don't have much need to look elsewhere.

1) Do you purchase more online or at a retail (store front) pet supply retailer?I would say 50/50
2) If you purchase online, what do you mostly buy for your cat? ( food, toys, litter ect.)Large bags of kibble and cat trees or anything that's bulky
3) What cat/dog food do you feed your cat/dog ?Royal Canin intensive fur ball kibbles, Hi life petite pate, and Marks and Spencers Luxury tuna and mackeral wet food
4) What do you wish online pet supply retailers to carry more of? (suggestions) Zooplus which i use has quite a good range of food, toys etc... so i'm quite happy with everything

1) Do you purchase more online or at a retail (store front) pet supply retailer? I rarely purchase pet stuff online.
2) If you purchase online, what do you mostly buy for your cat? ( food, toys, litter ect.) N/A
3) What cat/dog food do you feed your cat/dog ? Science Diet Adult
4) What do you wish online pet supply retailers to carry more of? (suggestions) Never really paid attention to what they carry. [/quote]

I prefer to shop in person, but I'm having trouble finding retailers whose ethics I can live with. There are two stores near me that carry a particular food our cats love, and I can't find it anywhere else. But I just won't buy from those stores: one is a local independent who sells puppy-mill puppies, and the other is with a national chain that was recently revealed as the nation's largest customer of puppy mills.

So I won't patronize those stores -- not in person, and not online. I've explained this to the kitties, and I think they understand.

1) Do you purchase more online or at a retail (store front) pet supply retailer?
--Most if not all of our pet purchases come from the supermarket.

2) If you purchase online, what do you mostly buy for your cat? ( food, toys, litter ect.)
--The only thing i've bought online pets wise was a jacket harness.

3) What cat/dog food do you feed your cat/dog ?
--Generally Whiskas or Snappy Tom wet food, it's not pricey and our kitties like it very much. The kitty who lives with me eats premium dry, brand changes depending on price and variety.

4) What do you wish online pet supply retailers to carry more of? (suggestions)
--Everything? lol

1) Do you purchase more online or at a retail (store front) pet supply retailer?

I only purchase online from a small business that specializes in cats
2) If you purchase online, what do you mostly buy for your cat? ( food, toys, litter ect.)
toys and treats
3) What cat/dog food do you feed your cat/dog ?
a mix ... no grain drys , low to no grain wets , homemade cooked and raw and commercial raw
4) What do you wish online pet supply retailers to carry more of? (suggestions)

items at every price point ... Not all can afford a dog jacket that is 80$

1) Do you purchase more online or at a retail (store front) pet supply retailer?
I purchase more at a retail store
2) If you purchase online, what do you mostly buy for your cat? ( food, toys, litter ect.)
Toys mostly. My senior cat has a specific brand of catnip toy he likes, that I can only get online.
3) What cat/dog food do you feed your cat/dog ?
Iams (right now mixed with 2 other foods) dry and Friskies or Fancy Feast wet foods.
4) What do you wish online pet supply retailers to carry more of? (suggestions)
I can't really think of anything. Mostly I find shipping to be the prohibitive factor for online ordering.