PHOENIX -- Spinning off its successful Baby Club concept, Abco Foods here has implemented a Pet Club to spur pet food and supply sales.
The program, which began in May, employs a Catalina Marketing system that records all pet-related purchases at the point of sale. When a customer reaches $100 in pet purchases, the cashier prints out a receipt, and the shopper can redeem it at the customer-service desk for a $10 Abco gift certificate for more pet products.
"It's a three-month pilot," said Leslie Knox, senior vice president of marketing for Abco Foods. "It includes all pet foods and pet supplies."
It's too early to gauge the customer response to the Pet Club, Knox said. "When we first started the Baby Club, we didn't get our first jump until the fourth week out. So I really can't comment on how [Pet Club] has done so far," he explained.
The Baby Club, which ended its initial run on Feb. 1, was renewed on April 17 to run for another six months, he added.
Abco started the Pet Club because of stiff competition from pet superstores, which have proliferated in major metro markets nationwide and have siphoned customers from supermarkets.
"Manufacturers are telling me that supermarkets are losing business to other classes of trade," Knox said, referring to pet superstores. "So this was the way to increase that particular [category]."
Abco is advertising the Pet Club in several media. "Basically, it's very similar to what we did with the Baby Club: in our weekly inserts, on radio and television, and in handouts in the stores," Knox said. However, ads don't showcase items as special to the Pet Club.
