In an effort to raise its subscription revenue, Petco is looking beyond dogs and cats.
The company is expanding its health and wellness membership program Vital Care — until now just open to dogs and cats — to include birds, fish, reptiles and small pets, according to a Tuesday (Aug. 30) news release.
The program gives pet owners “savings and rewards on nutrition, supplies, services, veterinary care and more with benefits tailored to each species’ individual needs,” the release stated.
Petco said in the release it is the first national pet retailer to offer a comprehensive wellness plan of this type at scale. There are more than 13 million fish, 9 million bird, 6 million small animal, and 5 million reptile households in the country.
See also: Petco Buys Veterinary Services for its Stores
“Expanding Vital Care to birds, reptiles, fish and small animals makes it more affordable for their pet parents to bring home the right products that support the overall health and wellness of their beloved companion animals, which — based on the results in our pilot locations — we expect will bring in more customers more often, and enhance sales for our companion animal business,” said Petco Vice President of Animal Care Education and Merchandising Jonathan Williamson in the release.
The program costs $9.99 per month per pet type for new enrollees, according to the release. Pet parents who already have dogs or cats in the plan can add a bird, reptile, fish or small animal to their plan for another $7.99 per month per pet type.
The move comes at a time when “rising costs and growing frustration are leading consumers to reevaluate their paid subscriptions and cancel those they deem unwanted in a process known as churn,” as PYMNTS noted in the August Subscription Commerce Tracker®, done in collaboration with Vindicia.
Last week, Petco CEO Rob Coughlin pointed to the company’s subscription services as a bright spot during a softer second quarter, noting that “recurring customer revenue grew by 54% year over year, driven by repeat delivery, insurance, PupBox and Vital Care members.”
Read more: Petco’s Recurring Subscription Revenues Cushion Consumer Downshift
Total active Vital Care customers reached 22,000 in the quarter, a number that included customers who converted to Vital Care membership after Petco’s purchase of Thrive Pet Healthcare’s 50% stake in the parties’ pet hospital joint venture in March.
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Amazon Web Services (AWS) plans to invest at least $11 billion in Georgia to expand infrastructure to support cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.
The investment is expected to create at least 550 new skilled jobs and bolster the state’s position as technology hub, the company said in a Tuesday (Jan. 7) press release.
“AWS’s ongoing infrastructure investments across the United States demonstrate our relentless commitment to powering our customers’ digital innovation through cloud and AI technologies,” Roger Wehner, vice president of economic development at AWS, said in the release.
In Georgia in particular, Wehner said, “State and local leaders have cultivated an environment that enables companies like AWS to make bold, forward-looking investments.”
The investment will help expand data centers in the state, per the release. It will also create hundreds of new, direct AWS jobs in roles like data center engineers, network specialists, engineering operations managers and security specialists, as well as supporting thousands of jobs in construction and the data center supply chain.
It was reported in November that tech giants’ investments in cloud infrastructure were paying off due to the demand for AI. While the momentum for cloud businesses began to slow in early 2022 as companies completed their migration to the cloud, it picked up more recently because companies need the infrastructure for AI.
Microsoft announced Friday (Jan. 3) that it plans to invest $80 billion to build AI-focused data centers in fiscal 2025 — more than half of which will be deployed in the United States — saying it is doing so amid a “golden opportunity for American AI.”
“The massive data centers that make all this possible are being built by construction firms, steel and other manufacturers, and innovative advances in electricity and liquid cooling, all reliant on large numbers of skilled electricians and pipefitters, including members of organized labor unions,” Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith wrote in a Friday blog post.
In September, the White House announced the formation of a new task force aimed at enhancing the development of data centers. The task force’s primary focus will be to coordinate policies that foster the growth of data centers while balancing economic, national security and environmental objectives.