The pet trade has changed and is changing. It's leaner and more competitive. It's also better; cleaner, more professional, sophisticated. Many of these "opportunities" have come about as a result of the proliferation of mass-merchandiser and "super"-store chains. Depending on your presentation and opinion, this may be something less than a blessing. What will you do to increase, retain your market share? Reducing margins, enhancing/emphasizing service, carefully picking and monitoring product lines, enlarging employee training, cleaning up your store's image, inventory control and business practices in general, and more have been advanced as suggestions or necessities for warding off the mass-merchandiser/super-store menace. Let's investigate the challenge of being in the pet-industry in the west in the 90's and possibilities for action. What's Going On Here? Will the U.S. follow the natural evolution the trade has undergone elsewhere? Look around you. Notice the consolidation of distributors, the graying of the line between manufacturer/distributor? The bad economy is not the root cause of their increased wheeling and dealing, enhanced services and training; it's only exacerbated and sped up the changes already happening in the industry.

Independent rep.s are getting scarcer and marginal independents too. Successful, read that remaining, shops and small chains have become adept at reading and adapting to alterations, many brought a ...

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