How Wag compares to other brands
A 30-pound bag of Wag dry dog food is around $43 after Subscribe & Save discount. Meanwhile, a 24-pound bag of the comparable Blue Buffalo Wilderness goes for between $44 and $55, also via Subscribe & Save. Wag certainly provides a better value in quantity in this case. As for quality, both brands are rated well, with the much more established Blue Buffalo boasting 4.3/5 stars to Wag’s respectable 4/5 stars. Satisfied customers have said Wag’s dry dog food has been gentle for sensitive stomachs, but some pups had problems digesting the lentils.
What Wag pet food has to offer
Currently, Wag features five flavors of dry food, eight types of wet dog food, and 15 kinds of wet cat food. Compared to mainstream brands, such as Pedigree or Friskies, those are modest numbers. However, Wag has only been producing pet food for just under a year. Also, Amazon seems to portray Wag as a brand that values quality over quantity.
Wag prides itself in using all-natural ingredients without added grains, corn, wheat, or artificial colors and preservatives. All food is manufactured in either the USA or Canada, depending on the type, and includes ingredients that are “sourced from countries all over the world.” Any meat or poultry that is used comes from the USA or Canada and is always listed as the first ingredient.
The e-commerce giant already sells its own pet beds and carriers, which it began marketing under the AmazonBasics brand in 2016. Last year, sales of carriers alone totalled $2 million, according to Fortune. Amazon also markets private label batteries and a variety of baby products, apparel and home goods.
The Wag name had been part of Quidsi, which Seattle-based Amazon purchased for $545 million in 2011. Quidsi had also owned Diapers.com, Soap.com, BeautyBar.com, Casa.com and YoYo.com. In March 2017, Amazon shuttered Quidsi, citing poor profits.
“Personalized pet nutrition, along with direct-to-consumer subscription services, are expanding rapidly,” said Bernard Meunier, chief executive officer of Purina PetCare EMENA (Europe, Middle East, North Africa). “This move underlies our focus on investing in high-growth categories and acting on consumer trends. Tails.com has a unique and winning model that successfully combines customized recipes with best-in-class pet owner experience at competitive prices.” Advertisement
Non-food, non-litter categories are purchased online, too. But since they are bought less frequently, they are not part of every order. This makes it difficult for pet product pure-plays to provide free or affordable shipping on heavy, lower-margin bags of food and litter. Consequently, the online pet products market has been slow to grow. According to Euromonitor International, 3% of 2016 cat and dog food sales in the U.S. were made online. But the size of packaging and frequency of purchase make pet food a likely candidate for home delivery.
Eventually, Wag could have a significant impact on the entire pet market. In physical stores, the lower margins on basic food and litter are offset by higher-profit items like toys, collars, carriers and other equipment. The highest-margin area, coming in at about 80 points, is pet clothing (particularly popular among small dog owners). While premium and specialty pet foods are a profitable and growing area, they still are a niche business.