A chain store that sells pet supplies for reptiles, fishkeeping, birds, cats, dogs, and other small furry creatures. Though they may be trying to take over all the small specialized pet shops that exist in almost every city with a population over 5,000; PetsMart will inevitably fail for the following reasons:
- They make no effort to hire associates who know anything about pets at all. This is especially dangerous in the fish department, because the slightest error in the hobby of fishkeeping will result in complete and abject failure. Which means that Petsmart is driving away future customers by ensuring that they fail in the hobby.
- The lack of knowledgeable associates will drive most people with experience elsewhere. So there goes the other part of the demographic.
- Their prices, while lower than individually-owned pet shops, are nothing compared to the incredibly low prices of several online pet supply carriers. Eventually, more and more people will realize that shopping online is cheaper.
- Experienced fishkeepers realize that their business is required to support privately-owned aquarium stores, which in turn provide good advice and specialized services, and thus these fishkeepers avoid Petsmart.
- PetsMart takes poor care of their fish. They lose money needlessly because they continuously try and cut costs by not quarantining new fish, and not treating those that do show signs of disease. They make no effort to avoid selling diseased fish, nor are new associates told to inform people about diseased fish. Dead fish are left floating in the tanks; the managers make no effort to encourage employees to net these fish out.
PetsMart will stay in business because they have a wider selection of dog and cat supplies, including food, than any grocery store or private pet shop.