Pet Industry Growth Slows, but Chewy's Loyal Customer Base and Category Expansion Look Salient

The pet care industry is quite attractive, with brand loyalty, sticky purchase habits, pet humanization, and minimal cyclicality representing just a handful of alluring structural features in an $137 billion U.S. market, as noted by the American Pet Products Association. While a slew of players jockey for manufacturing and retail market share, Chewy's service-intensive subscription-driven platform looks poised to capture a disproportionate share of online sales, with the firm building a strong brand around customer service and perceived quality.