27 HIRING AND FIRING 34 RETAILER BLOGGER BENEFITS 44 COOLING PRODUCTS May 2013 Now Boarding As the pet travel industry continues to grow, so do the opportunities to cash in on the trend PetAge_Cover_May.indd 1 4/9/13 2:59 PM Pet Age - May - UltraToys.pdf 1 4/1/13 8:42 AM C M Y CM MY CY CMY K MAY 2013 petage.com 1 Pet Age MAY 2013 ❚ VOL 42 NO. 11 ❚ 27 Cat: Breaking bad habits 14 ❚ Fish and Pond: Underwater paradise ❚ Reptile: Enclosures and accessories ❚ Bird: Exercising the mind ❚ Groom and Board: Keeping ears clean ❚ Small Animal: Exercise options ❚ Natural: Pet Supplements 68 Community ❚ Pet Valu’s 500th store ❚ Taking advantage of learning opportunities ❚ Steve Schram works to develop products for the involved pet owner at ProLabs. 4 Publisher’s Letter 30 Behind The Counter By Dave Ratner 6 Editor’s Letter Customer service should be a store’s 71 Advertisers Index top priority 10 Storefront Features 32 Pet Industry Guru 36 Have Pet, Will Travel ❚ Testing for safety By Howard London By Jason Kamery ❚ Movers & Shakers Helpful pet peeves to move a business More people are travelling with pets ❚ Company news forward than ever before. ❚ New women’s conference 34 Business Strategies ❚ New leaders at PIDA, PIJAC By Amanda LeGaux 47 ❚ New products Leveraging bloggers to help store sales 27 Help Wanted By Dan Calabrese 44 Trends & Products Deciding when to hire or fire ❚ Dog: Keeping cool when tempera- tures rise 36 COVER AND COVER STORY illustRatiON: Kevin PacciONE Proceeds Support www.morrisanimalfoundation.org Where Science Meets Hope PetAttireStyles_1305_8x10.75_CPP.indd 1 3/6/13 10:46 AM DKJFHJKHKJDFHKJFKJHFDKHF ❚ Publisher’s Letter Pet Age Vice President and PUblisher Craig M. Rexford [email protected] 732-246-5709 AccOUNT EXecUtives Ariyana Edmond Two of a Kind [email protected] 323-868-5038 Brianne Molnar Some retailers go to either national [email protected] trade shows or open houses, but it’s 732-246-5708 EditOR-IN-Chief important to go to both. Michelle Maskaly [email protected] 732-246-5722 alf way between Global Pet intimidating, and gives you the confi- Assistant EditOR Expo and SuperZoo is the be- dence to make your rounds and see all Jason Kamery ginning of open house season. the products. There you can also in- [email protected] H 732-246-5734 While some retailers believe in going teract with various industry lobbying to just open houses or just national pet groups, such as PIJAC, as well as indus- COntribUting Writers Karen M. Alley, Dan Calabrese, Daryl trade shows, it is important to know try organizations, like APPA, WPA and Conner, Bill Kolbenschlag, Howard London, that they complement each other, and PIDA. Dave Ratner, Kristen Ryan, Stacy Mantle, you should be going to both. In addition, the national trade shows Maggie Marton, Erin Salley, Jon VanZile Open houses started out as a way for offer a ton of educational courses. There BLOggers: John Cullen, Dave Ratner, Kerry Sutherland pet companies to show off their facili- is everything from sessions on merchan- Art DirectOR ties for pet retailers. It allowed many of dising and employee retention to man- Andrew Ogilvie the retailers to get a behind the scenes agement issues and using social media Graphic Designer look at the products they sold, or were to connect with customers. Diana Liedl thinking of selling, in their store. Now- If you are a retailer who has only COntribUting Designer adays, they have grown into large re- gone to the national trade shows, you Kevin Paccione gional events held at resorts and confer- should also check out the open house Web Services ence centers. circuit. There, you get more one-on- Barb Romito The national trade shows, including: one and personal attention from the BUsiness Manager Global Pet Expo, SuperZoo and the companies, and learn more about their AnnMarie Karczmit Backer Show, are all good for showing products that you sell in your store, so Administrative Assistant the general overview of the pet industry. you can relay that information to cus- Jessica Perry Nowhere else can you see such a wide tomers. Published BY JOURnal Multimedia variety of pet products. At open houses, Open houses have been around for David A. Schankweiler, CEO retailers get to spend more quality time as long as I have been working in the Lawrence M. Kluger, President with products or companies that they pet industry, and trade shows have been HOW TO Reach Us really want to get to know. around for even longer. They both con- MailinG ADDRess If you’ve never been to a large trade- tinue to get better each year, and be- Pet AGE, 220 Davidson Ave., Suite 302 show, an open house is a good way to come must-attend events. Somerset, NJ 08873 get your feet wet. The national trade Whether you start with an open PHOne: 732-339-3700 FAX: 732-846-0421 shows can be overwhelming at first, so house or with the national trade shows, Email: [email protected] by taking your time at the open house, what matters is that you attend both TO subscRibe visit: http://www.petage.com and learning everything, it gets you in of them to better equip yourself with FOR LIST RENTALS, DSA Direct: 973-954-2649 the right mindset. Then you can go to knowledge, build relationships and PET AGE (ISSN 0098 5406) is published monthly by Journal Multimedia, 1500 Paxton St., Harrisburg, PA 17104 Phone: 717-236-2433 Fax: 717-236-6803 the larger shows and get that much make more money by providing your Printed in U.S.A. Copyright © 2012 by Journal Multimedia No part of this more out of it. You will already have customers with the best products on magazine may be reproduced in any form without prior written consent of the publisher. SUBSCRIPTIONS: PET AGE is mailed at no cost to qualified built a trust and friendship with certain the market. members of the pet industry. Non-qualified subscriptions: $95 per year in the U.S.; and $160 for air mail (U.S. funds) to all other countries. Back companies. issues are available; contact our business office for information. Periodicals When you have a few go-to com- postage paid at Harrisburg, PA., and additional mailing offices. panies that you can go see at the larg- er shows, it makes shows like Global, Craig Rexford SuperZoo and Backer seem a little less Publisher 4 Pet Age MAY 2013 ❚ Editor’s Letter The most complete assortment good Road Trippin’ Whether it’s Italy or Florida, pets are racking up the miles. hen I was growing up, ucts solely designed to be used for pet my family would go on travel. These items include everything vacation every August, from car safety restraints and portable Freshbetter W and during that time kennels to backpacks and collapsible our dog would take a little vacation water dishes. of her own at a boarding facility. She According to a AAA/Kurgo survey, really only traveled with us when we 56 percent of the respondents had is went to my great-grandparent’s house driven with their dog at least once a in upstate New York. month over the past year. I would bet Fast forward to now, and my dog, that number is much higher. Just after Toby, comes almost everywhere he can a quick scroll through my contact list, better with me. He took his first road trip to I could rattle off two dozen names of Lake George at 5 months old, traveled people who travel in the car with their all over the state of Maine for a week at pet one or two times a week. If bestnot stored properly, 7 months old and went on a kayaking Industry experts told us that in pet food gets stale and trip to Lake Placid at 8 months old. the past retailers were concerned that He’s been to a conference in Ohio, travel products wouldn’t sell. But now, loses nutrition. Keep it visited family in Virginia, business retailers who are well versed in this fresh with a Vittles meetings in Connecticut, walked area can be very profitable, without Vault! Your pet will across the Canadian border at Niagara overstocking their store. Falls and took a trip to Montreal. Retailers should stock practical thank you. As owners begin to treat their pets solutions for the average pet own- as a core part of their family, travel- er who is taking Fido or Fluffy with ing with them, whether it be to a rel- them. Car seat restraints, airline-ap- ative’s house for the holiday or family proved travel carriers, portable water vacation to Florida, is becoming more dishes and first aid kits are a good way common. to start out. People are even traveling interna- Merchandised together, they create tionally with their pets. For example, a small little travel section when the my friend Diane has traveled twice weather starts to get warm and family from Atlanta to Italy with her dog, vacations start, but at the same time, Cosmo. they are items that can be displayed in These days there are no limits to other sections the rest of the year. where a pet might be jetting to, and They also meet the needs of cus- hotels, restaurants, attractions and air- tomers who may not be traveling with lines are catering to this demographic. their pet, but need those items for In fact, JetBlue Airways has an exclu- other reasons, like a car restraint when sive program designed for those trav- they have to take their dog to the vet.