Recognizing the need for a stronger omnichannel solution, national pet health and wellness chain Petco embarked on a path to replace their 20-year old customized POS system with new technology. Petco operates more than 1,500 locations across the U.S., Mexico and Puerto Rico, including a network of more than 100 in-store veterinary hospitals.
Following a “rip and replace” implementation of the new technology, Petco found itself dealing with unbudgeted expenses and the same technology hurdles in adding omnichannel functionality in-store. The issue was not the new POS system per se, but the fact that it was a siloed platform. As retailers like Petco have evolved and brought in new technology to meet consumers where they are, they found themselves with a POS platform, an e-commerce platform, an inventory platform, a finance platform, a mobile app, etc. What has emerged as the biggest barrier to a true omnichannel solution is synchronizing and reconciling the data across all of these purpose-built platforms.
The solution for Petco was partnering with JumpMind Commerce to build an enterprise POS platform that could enable omnichannel commerce by accessing and sharing data across the enterprise. Petco planned the implementation of the new system to deliver the highest ROI feature first, which was a returns management solution that included fraud detection, loss prevention, and full transaction visibility to support omnichannel returns. The JumpMind Metl and SymmetricDS applications enabled full data sharing across the enterprise, and Petco was able to layer in full POS functionality and sunset their siloed POS system.
This new architecture makes Petco much nimbler in how they react to changes in consumer commerce preferences. A good example is how Petco implemented Klarna’s Pay in 4 Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) program, being able to offer it seamlessly on web/mobile commerce and in-store simultaneously.
“As we continue innovating and optimizing Petco’s systems to deliver a positive experience to customers and employees alike, we’re looking forward to working alongside JumpMind, whose strong partnership has been critical to our success,” said William Choi, director of development and application support, Petco.
Petco also partnered with the CitrusAd retail media platform earlier this year to enable their vendors to offer relevant and sponsored media campaigns across its digital commerce touchpoints to increase sales.
“We’re making it easy for pet owners to care for the health and wellness of their pets through a seamless omnichannel Petco experience that tailors to their needs and meets them where they are, thanks to JumpMind,” said John Zavada, Petco chief information and administrative officer.
Overview by Don Apgar, Director, Merchant Services Advisory Practice at Mercator Advisory Group