Drs. Foster & Smith
Encyclopedia
Foster & Smith, Inc. is an American mail order
and e-commerce pet supply corporation based in Rhinelander, Wisconsin
. Conducting business primarily as Drs. Foster and Smith, it is one of the largest pet supply companies in the world. The company puts a strong emphasis on customer education and specialized in mid- to high-end quality pet products for home pet health care and aquatic hobbies
. Drs. Foster and Smith's online and print catalogs feature extensive product information and how-to guides. The company funds PetEducation.com, a mostly commercial-free "resource for any pet owner who is seeking information."
Founded in 1983 by veterinarians Race Foster, Rory Foster, and Marty Smith, the company has experienced rapid growth, expanding from 2 employees and $30,000 in sales in 1983 to over 550 employees and $250 million of sales in 2008. The company's first catalog was a 16-page, two-color production selling canine
medications. As the company grew, toys, pet furniture, and other products were added. Feline
and equine
products were added in 1988. A Drs. Foster & Smith line of products was launched in 1993, and was quickly expanded to include a variety of products ranging from medications and pet furniture, to company formulated brands of cat and dog food.
In 1998, the company began taking orders online at DrsFosterSmith.com. Online business grew dramatically after the collapse of Pets.com
in 2000. A series of mergers in the early 2000s added aquarium, bird, ferret
, and other specialty products to the company's catalogs. In 2008, Animal Planet
gave Race Foster and Marty Smith a weekly television program, Doctors Foster and Smith's Faithful Friends, to provide veterinary advice on pet care. Smith says the business' success is simple: "You take care of employees and you take care of customers and the business will take care of itself."
Drs. Foster and Smith has received industry awards and positive reviews from newspapers. The Chicago Sun-Times has called the Drs. Foster and Smith catalog "a dog-gone good source" for pet products, while the Star Tribune has called it "a good resource for people who can't get to the pet superstores." Catalog Success names the company "Consumer Cataloger of the Year" in 2004, and Internet Retailer ranked DrsFosterSmith.com in its the "Best of the Web Top 50" of 2006. Foster & Smith was ranked fifth in customer satisfaction among the 100 highest-grossing online retailers in a 2007 survey.
Doctors Foster and Smith is one of the world's largest pet supplies companies. As of 2008, annual sales were estimated at $250 million, while the company was estimated to employ 550 as of 2006. Through 2003, the company had turned a profit every year of its existence (newer figures not available). It is one of largest employers in Rhinelander.
Drs. Foster and Smith primarily does business through their website, which attracts 1 million unique visitors a month and generates annual sales of $125 million (as of 2007), and through mail order catalogs, which are mailed to over 50 million addresses annually (as of 2006). A small amount of additional sales come through online comparison shopping sites Froogle
and Yahoo! Shopping
. The company occasionally uses eBay
to sell off discontinued merchandise. In 2007, Foster & Smith began selling pet food and furniture through Target
retail locations.
Foster & Smith stocks more than 20,000 different products, including a Drs. Foster and Smith line of products developed by the company. The company's private label cat and dog foods were formulated by in-house veterinarians. As of 2007, it operated the United States' two largest pet product catalogs with its main cat and dog book having the widest reach
, and its bird, fish, reptile, and small pet catalog ranking second. The company maintains consistent pricing between its catalogs and website.
Drs. Foster and Smith owns a 240000 sq ft (22,296.7 m²). (as of 2004) warehouse located near the Rhinelander Airport, which houses the vast majority of the company's inventory. They also run a retail outlet store that draws thousands of customers to Rhinelander yearly.
The company's large facilities allow it to handle most tasks – including product development, marketing, warehousing, software engineering, building construction and maintenance – in-house. The high level of control over their product lends to 95% of orders shipping within 24 hours.
Drs. Foster and Smith aquatics division, LiveAquaria.com, operates the Aquaculture Coral & Marine Life Facility in Rhinelander. The facility breeds aquacultured coral
s and captive marine species. "We're trying to get to where we're not having to take anything out of the ocean anymore," says Smith.
Foster & Smith has produced more than 1,500 original articles which appear alongside products in the company's print catalogs, as well as online. The company's websites feature 300+ educational videos and product reviews produced in-house. Approximately 25% of the DrsFosterSmith.com videos are how-to guides created in response to customer questions, with the other 75% being product videos. Magee states that the videos integrate customer feedback "with the internal expertise we have on products", and are created for situations where "someone may need ... more than written instructions ... to use a specific product."
The company also funds PetEducation.com, a website created "as a one-stop resource for any pet owner who is seeking information." The website features "Focus Topic" primers on various aspects of pet care, encyclopedia style articles, a medical dictionary, and technical material aimed at veterinarians. All PetEducation.com materials are written by veterinarians, with a significant portion being contributed by Race Foster or Marty Smith themselves. As of 2008, PetEducation.com attracted more than a million unique visits a month.
and Michigan's
Upper Peninsula. The duo was looking for ways to supplement their income in the winter (when business was slow), when a client of Foster asked him for advice on administering vaccinations he had purchased from a mail order catalog. The conversation gave rise to the idea of combining a informational newsletter aimed at "high volume" dog owners (breeders
, kennel
owners, etc.) interested in home veterinary care with a mail order catalog selling veterinary supplies. By educating their clients, Foster & Smith would allow them to bypass the cost of additional veterinarian office visits. Foster & Smith were already writing a regular newsletter, so the transition was simple - they just added a sheet of mail-order medications to their existing newsletter.
When Foster was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
, his brother Race joined the practice and took over Rory's clinic duties. In 1983, the trio incorporated Drs. Foster and Smith and produced their first full-fledged catalog. The partners wrote the copy, took the pictures, and did the design work themselves, resulting in a simple 16-page, two-color production. As Rory's illness worsened and he was limited physically, he continued to write veterinary advice published in the catalog.
Aiming for national distribution from day one, the partners searched specialty dog publications, recording the names of potential customers – breeders, kennel owners, hunters, and fellow veterinarians. The first batch of 16,000 catalogs was mailed out in February 1983 using hand typed labels. Two people were hired to answer the phones and handle distribution from the clinics' waiting rooms, which were used to store products. The catalog generated $30,000 of sales during its first year.
In 1988, the catalog was expanded to 32 full-size pages and became the nation's first full-color pet catalog. Cat and horse supplies were added, and the partners shifted the catalog's focus to include regular pet owners. Toys, pet furniture, and accessories were added to the catalog's existing medications. The catalog's success eventually prompted the veterinarians to give up their clinics and pursue the catalog business full time.
Drs. Foster and Smith's continued growth led to Mike Scrivner being brought on as partner and Chief Financial Officer
in 1989. In 1992, construction of a new 50000 sq ft (4,645.2 m²). headquarters began. The all-in-one building would serve as a call center, warehouse, distribution center, and office building.
John Powers, a marketing executive formerly with Docktor Pet Centers, was brought on board to oversee the company's continued expansion. In 1993, the Drs. Foster and Smith brand of private label
pet-care products was launched. By the end of year one, the product line contained more than 30 items including dietary supplements, pet furniture, and flea
and tick
products.
1998 saw the launch of Pets.com
and Petopia, attracting millions of pet supply customers to the web for the first time. Drs. Foster and Smith, which had gone online with a basic homepage a few years prior, also launched online ordering that year. Drs. Foster and Smith, however, made no attempt to compete with the new Internet retailers on their terms, spending no money on advertising for its website. Instead, the company viewed the website as a support structure for its catalog business. Its existing distribution chain allowed Drs. Foster and Smith to become the first in its industry to promise shipment within 12 hours. The Pets.com business model was ultimately flawed, and following its 2000 collapse Foster & Smith's online sales increased substantially. A new telecommunication center was added and order fulfillment upgraded to meet to increased demand.
mail-order catalog, in a cash buyout. The acquisition expanded the company's product selection from primarily dog and cat supplies to also include products for aquarium
s, birds, small pets, and reptiles. After a brief transition period, the Dayton warehouse was closed and its products and employees moved to the Rhinelander location. 53000 square feet (4,923.9 m²) were added to the Rhinelander warehouse to handle the 7,000 new items. The acquisition also boosted the company's catalog distribution by 5 million.
Later in 2001, LiveAquaria.com, a specialty aquarium supply company, was purchased by Foster and Smith. The acquisition of the two new businesses led Drs. Foster and Smith to upgrade their customer representative
training in order to maintain their reputation for knowledgeable customer service.
Doctors Foster and Smith continued to pursue expansion, signing their first advertising contract in July 2002. Around the same time, catalog and internet departments were integrated to increase efficiency. Advertising efforts were expanded to television in 2003 with spots airing on Animal Planet
and Lifetime. The ads were aimed at reinforcing the idea that the company's catalog items are hand selected by veterinarians, according to the then marketing director Joe Voellinger.
.
In 2005, Doctors Foster and Smith launched its "state-of-the-art" Aquaculture Coral Facility in Rhinelander. The opening drew 250 coral reef
enthusiasts for the first annual Coral Conference and Frag Swap, organized by Greater Minnesota Reef Society founder Jim Grassinger. Later in 2005, the company attracted some national attention by donating over $100,000 worth of pet supplies to Hurricane Katrina
animal rescue efforts.
In May 2007, Drs. Foster and Smith recalled its Adult Lite dog & cat food products as a precautionary measure. The products' manufacturer, Chenango Valley Pet Foods, was one of many companies who received contaminated rice protein
from China that year. Foster & Smith took the unusual measure of personally contacting customers who had recently purchased the potentially contaminated product. The company quickly reformulated its pet food to no longer contain rice protein, and later switched manufacturers.
In July 2007, Drs. Foster and Smith signed an agreement with Target, that enabled the company to move into brick and mortar retail for the first time. The deal placed Foster & Smith branded products in approximately 900 of Target's 1500 stores. According to Drs. Foster and Smith Internet Marketing Manager Gordon Magee, Target approached the company because it "was looking for a good quality brand" to enhance its merchandise selection in the higher end of the market.
Also in 2007, Drs. Foster and Smith was profiled by The New York Times
as an early adapter of videos showing 360-degree views of catalog products. Magee told The Times "it'll become a major thing in e-commerce." In 2008, the company added an in-house studio to boost their video production.
, Wrestler Bill Goldberg
, and Gordon Magee provided voices for animated characters. Frontman of thrash metal
band Megadeth
Dave Mustaine
's daughter Electra appeared in "Itty Biddy Buddies" segments of the show. Animal Planet marketed Faithful Friends as "the definitive source for your pet's wellness and a home for professional veterinarian advice." Magee, who oversaw production of the show on behalf of Drs. Foster and Smith, described it as a logical way for Drs. Foster and Smith to help pet owners.
review called the Drs. Foster and Smith catalog "a dog-gone good source" for pet products, while the Star Tribune
has called it "a good resource for people who can't get to the pet superstores." In 1999, the company made Multichannel Merchants list of best catalog copy, ranking second. Multichannel remarks "their catalog is as much a manual of health care as it is ... product for sale", and states that one feels "these guys really care about puppies and kittens". In 2004, Drs. Foster and Smith won the "Consumer Cataloger of the Year Award" from Catalog Success.
Internet Retailer listed DrsFosterSmith.com as among the "Best of the Web Top 50" in 2006. As of 2010, the website is ranked #100 in the Internet Retailer "Top 500" retail websites. In 2007, a ForeSee Results
survey ranked Doctors Foster and Smith fifth in customer satisfaction among the 100 highest-grossing online retailers. The company scored 81 points out of a possible 100, with the highest score (85) being earned by Netflix
.
In a 2001 review for The Washington Times
, Joe Szadkowski gave PetEducation.com an "A" rating and said the website featured "an incredible array of 'I didn't know that' facts." He stated that the site's search engine and linked articles made finding needed information hassle free. Saying the site was worth visiting often, he added "I particularly enjoyed the section 'Cases From Our Clinic'." Lisa Knox of the Lancaster New Era describes the advice found on PetEducation.com as both "practical and common-sense."
LiveAquaria.com's Aquaculture Coral Facility has been called "one of the best I've ever seen" by marine aquarium expert Julian Sprung
.
where he earned the 1983 Feline Medicine and Surgery Award for academic achievements in feline medicine. He is the co-author of five books on pet health, care, and behavior.
Foster served two terms on the Board of Directors of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital at Michigan State University.
. In addition to co-authoring books with Foster, he has written hundreds of articles on pet health, care, and behavior. He currently does consulting work for pet organizations, breeders, and trainers across the United States.
Smith has shown several English Setter
s on the national circuit, including Ch. Sevenoaks Golden Garters ("Vegas") who was the 1997 American and Canadian Grand National Champion.
Mail order
Mail order is a term which describes the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote method such as through a telephone call or web site. Then, the products are delivered to the customer...
and e-commerce pet supply corporation based in Rhinelander, Wisconsin
Rhinelander, Wisconsin
Rhinelander is a city in and the county seat of Oneida County, Wisconsin, United States. Its population was 7,735 at the 2000 census.-Claim to fame:...
. Conducting business primarily as Drs. Foster and Smith, it is one of the largest pet supply companies in the world. The company puts a strong emphasis on customer education and specialized in mid- to high-end quality pet products for home pet health care and aquatic hobbies
Fishkeeping
Fishkeeping is a popular hobby concerned with keeping fish in a home aquarium or garden pond. There is also a fishkeeping industry, as a branch of agriculture.-Types of fishkeeping systems:...
. Drs. Foster and Smith's online and print catalogs feature extensive product information and how-to guides. The company funds PetEducation.com, a mostly commercial-free "resource for any pet owner who is seeking information."
Founded in 1983 by veterinarians Race Foster, Rory Foster, and Marty Smith, the company has experienced rapid growth, expanding from 2 employees and $30,000 in sales in 1983 to over 550 employees and $250 million of sales in 2008. The company's first catalog was a 16-page, two-color production selling canine
Dog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
medications. As the company grew, toys, pet furniture, and other products were added. Feline
Cat
The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
and equine
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
products were added in 1988. A Drs. Foster & Smith line of products was launched in 1993, and was quickly expanded to include a variety of products ranging from medications and pet furniture, to company formulated brands of cat and dog food.
In 1998, the company began taking orders online at DrsFosterSmith.com. Online business grew dramatically after the collapse of Pets.com
Pets.com
Pets.com is a former dot-com enterprise that sold pet supplies to retail customers. It began operations in February 1999 and closed in November 2000. A high profile marketing campaign gave it a widely recognized public presence, including an appearance in the 1999 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade...
in 2000. A series of mergers in the early 2000s added aquarium, bird, ferret
Ferret
The ferret is a domesticated mammal of the type Mustela putorius furo. Ferrets are sexually dimorphic predators with males being substantially larger than females. They typically have brown, black, white, or mixed fur...
, and other specialty products to the company's catalogs. In 2008, Animal Planet
Animal Planet
Animal Planet is an American cable tv specialty channel that launched on October 1, 1996. It is distributed by Discovery Communications. A high-definition simulcast of the channel launched on September 1, 2007.-History:...
gave Race Foster and Marty Smith a weekly television program, Doctors Foster and Smith's Faithful Friends, to provide veterinary advice on pet care. Smith says the business' success is simple: "You take care of employees and you take care of customers and the business will take care of itself."
Drs. Foster and Smith has received industry awards and positive reviews from newspapers. The Chicago Sun-Times has called the Drs. Foster and Smith catalog "a dog-gone good source" for pet products, while the Star Tribune has called it "a good resource for people who can't get to the pet superstores." Catalog Success names the company "Consumer Cataloger of the Year" in 2004, and Internet Retailer ranked DrsFosterSmith.com in its the "Best of the Web Top 50" of 2006. Foster & Smith was ranked fifth in customer satisfaction among the 100 highest-grossing online retailers in a 2007 survey.
Description
Located in Rhinelander, WisconsinRhinelander, Wisconsin
Rhinelander is a city in and the county seat of Oneida County, Wisconsin, United States. Its population was 7,735 at the 2000 census.-Claim to fame:...
Doctors Foster and Smith is one of the world's largest pet supplies companies. As of 2008, annual sales were estimated at $250 million, while the company was estimated to employ 550 as of 2006. Through 2003, the company had turned a profit every year of its existence (newer figures not available). It is one of largest employers in Rhinelander.
Drs. Foster and Smith primarily does business through their website, which attracts 1 million unique visitors a month and generates annual sales of $125 million (as of 2007), and through mail order catalogs, which are mailed to over 50 million addresses annually (as of 2006). A small amount of additional sales come through online comparison shopping sites Froogle
Froogle
Google Product Search, formerly Google Products and Froogle, is a price comparison service launched by Google Inc. It is currently in beta test stage. It was invented by Craig Nevill-Manning. Its interface provides an HTML form field into which a user can type product queries to return lists of...
and Yahoo! Shopping
Yahoo! Shopping
Yahoo! Shopping is Yahoo's price comparison service.Yahoo uses the Kelkoo price comparison service it acquired in April 2004 to power Yahoo! Shopping in 6 countries.-External links:**...
. The company occasionally uses eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
to sell off discontinued merchandise. In 2007, Foster & Smith began selling pet food and furniture through Target
Target Corporation
Target Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...
retail locations.
Foster & Smith stocks more than 20,000 different products, including a Drs. Foster and Smith line of products developed by the company. The company's private label cat and dog foods were formulated by in-house veterinarians. As of 2007, it operated the United States' two largest pet product catalogs with its main cat and dog book having the widest reach
Reach (advertising)
In the application of statistics to advertising and media analysis, reach refers to the total number of different people or households exposed, at least once, to a medium during a given period of time. Reach should not be confused with the number of people who will actually be exposed to and...
, and its bird, fish, reptile, and small pet catalog ranking second. The company maintains consistent pricing between its catalogs and website.
Drs. Foster and Smith owns a 240000 sq ft (22,296.7 m²). (as of 2004) warehouse located near the Rhinelander Airport, which houses the vast majority of the company's inventory. They also run a retail outlet store that draws thousands of customers to Rhinelander yearly.
The company's large facilities allow it to handle most tasks – including product development, marketing, warehousing, software engineering, building construction and maintenance – in-house. The high level of control over their product lends to 95% of orders shipping within 24 hours.
Drs. Foster and Smith aquatics division, LiveAquaria.com, operates the Aquaculture Coral & Marine Life Facility in Rhinelander. The facility breeds aquacultured coral
Coral
Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...
s and captive marine species. "We're trying to get to where we're not having to take anything out of the ocean anymore," says Smith.
Pet care education
A major focus of Drs. Foster and Smith is providing customer education. The company's catalog has always featured education articles alongside the product, with the typical Foster & Smith mail-order catalog being 15% purely informational. The Marketing manager Gordon Magee credits the focus on education for the company's success, while co-owner Race Foster says "We spend millions in educating customers. That's our niche."Foster & Smith has produced more than 1,500 original articles which appear alongside products in the company's print catalogs, as well as online. The company's websites feature 300+ educational videos and product reviews produced in-house. Approximately 25% of the DrsFosterSmith.com videos are how-to guides created in response to customer questions, with the other 75% being product videos. Magee states that the videos integrate customer feedback "with the internal expertise we have on products", and are created for situations where "someone may need ... more than written instructions ... to use a specific product."
The company also funds PetEducation.com, a website created "as a one-stop resource for any pet owner who is seeking information." The website features "Focus Topic" primers on various aspects of pet care, encyclopedia style articles, a medical dictionary, and technical material aimed at veterinarians. All PetEducation.com materials are written by veterinarians, with a significant portion being contributed by Race Foster or Marty Smith themselves. As of 2008, PetEducation.com attracted more than a million unique visits a month.
Early history
In the early 1980s, veterinarians Marty Smith and Rory Foster owned and operated four animal clinics in northern WisconsinWisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
and Michigan's
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
Upper Peninsula. The duo was looking for ways to supplement their income in the winter (when business was slow), when a client of Foster asked him for advice on administering vaccinations he had purchased from a mail order catalog. The conversation gave rise to the idea of combining a informational newsletter aimed at "high volume" dog owners (breeders
Dog breeding
Dog breeding is the practice of mating selected specimens with the intent to maintain or produce specific qualities and characteristics.Dogs reproduce without human interference, so their offsprings' characteristics are determined by natural selection. Domestic dogs may be intentionally bred by...
, kennel
Kennel
A kennel is the name given to any structure or shelter for dogs. A kennel is a doghouse, run, or other small structure in which a dog is kept...
owners, etc.) interested in home veterinary care with a mail order catalog selling veterinary supplies. By educating their clients, Foster & Smith would allow them to bypass the cost of additional veterinarian office visits. Foster & Smith were already writing a regular newsletter, so the transition was simple - they just added a sheet of mail-order medications to their existing newsletter.
When Foster was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis , also referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a form of motor neuron disease caused by the degeneration of upper and lower neurons, located in the ventral horn of the spinal cord and the cortical neurons that provide their efferent input...
, his brother Race joined the practice and took over Rory's clinic duties. In 1983, the trio incorporated Drs. Foster and Smith and produced their first full-fledged catalog. The partners wrote the copy, took the pictures, and did the design work themselves, resulting in a simple 16-page, two-color production. As Rory's illness worsened and he was limited physically, he continued to write veterinary advice published in the catalog.
Aiming for national distribution from day one, the partners searched specialty dog publications, recording the names of potential customers – breeders, kennel owners, hunters, and fellow veterinarians. The first batch of 16,000 catalogs was mailed out in February 1983 using hand typed labels. Two people were hired to answer the phones and handle distribution from the clinics' waiting rooms, which were used to store products. The catalog generated $30,000 of sales during its first year.
Rapid growth
The new catalog business grew quickly as the partners started to advertise and rent third-party mailing lists. Within two years, the mail-order business was outgrowing the space available at the doctors' clinics, and a separate warehouse was purchased. Rory Foster died in 1987, but the business continued to expand.In 1988, the catalog was expanded to 32 full-size pages and became the nation's first full-color pet catalog. Cat and horse supplies were added, and the partners shifted the catalog's focus to include regular pet owners. Toys, pet furniture, and accessories were added to the catalog's existing medications. The catalog's success eventually prompted the veterinarians to give up their clinics and pursue the catalog business full time.
Drs. Foster and Smith's continued growth led to Mike Scrivner being brought on as partner and Chief Financial Officer
Chief financial officer
The chief financial officer or Chief financial and operating officer is a corporate officer primarily responsible for managing the financial risks of the corporation. This officer is also responsible for financial planning and record-keeping, as well as financial reporting to higher management...
in 1989. In 1992, construction of a new 50000 sq ft (4,645.2 m²). headquarters began. The all-in-one building would serve as a call center, warehouse, distribution center, and office building.
John Powers, a marketing executive formerly with Docktor Pet Centers, was brought on board to oversee the company's continued expansion. In 1993, the Drs. Foster and Smith brand of private label
Private label
Private label products or services are typically those manufactured or provided by one company for offer under another company's brand. Private label goods and services are available in a wide range of industries from food to cosmetics to web hosting...
pet-care products was launched. By the end of year one, the product line contained more than 30 items including dietary supplements, pet furniture, and flea
Flea
Flea is the common name for insects of the order Siphonaptera which are wingless insects with mouthparts adapted for piercing skin and sucking blood...
and tick
Tick
Ticks are small arachnids in the order Ixodida, along with mites, constitute the subclass Acarina. Ticks are ectoparasites , living by hematophagy on the blood of mammals, birds, and sometimes reptiles and amphibians...
products.
Focus on education & launch of DrsFosterSmith.com
The mid-late 1990s also brought an increased focus on education. In 1995, Drs. Foster and Smith released its first pet handbook, What's the Diagnosis, published by Simon and Schuster. In 1997, the company hired additional veterinarians to answer customer questions and produce educational materials. The growing popularity of the internet prompted Drs. Foster & Smith to move education efforts online, leading to the creation of PetEducation.com.1998 saw the launch of Pets.com
Pets.com
Pets.com is a former dot-com enterprise that sold pet supplies to retail customers. It began operations in February 1999 and closed in November 2000. A high profile marketing campaign gave it a widely recognized public presence, including an appearance in the 1999 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade...
and Petopia, attracting millions of pet supply customers to the web for the first time. Drs. Foster and Smith, which had gone online with a basic homepage a few years prior, also launched online ordering that year. Drs. Foster and Smith, however, made no attempt to compete with the new Internet retailers on their terms, spending no money on advertising for its website. Instead, the company viewed the website as a support structure for its catalog business. Its existing distribution chain allowed Drs. Foster and Smith to become the first in its industry to promise shipment within 12 hours. The Pets.com business model was ultimately flawed, and following its 2000 collapse Foster & Smith's online sales increased substantially. A new telecommunication center was added and order fulfillment upgraded to meet to increased demand.
Continued growth through acquisition
In an effort to boost catalog distribution, Drs. Foster and Smith offered 100,000 free pet tags to those who joined their mailing list in early 2000. In 2001, Drs. Foster and Smith increased its market share by 20% through the acquisition of Pet Warehouse, a Dayton, OhioDayton, Ohio
Dayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...
mail-order catalog, in a cash buyout. The acquisition expanded the company's product selection from primarily dog and cat supplies to also include products for aquarium
Aquarium
An aquarium is a vivarium consisting of at least one transparent side in which water-dwelling plants or animals are kept. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, marine mammals, turtles, and aquatic plants...
s, birds, small pets, and reptiles. After a brief transition period, the Dayton warehouse was closed and its products and employees moved to the Rhinelander location. 53000 square feet (4,923.9 m²) were added to the Rhinelander warehouse to handle the 7,000 new items. The acquisition also boosted the company's catalog distribution by 5 million.
Later in 2001, LiveAquaria.com, a specialty aquarium supply company, was purchased by Foster and Smith. The acquisition of the two new businesses led Drs. Foster and Smith to upgrade their customer representative
Customer representative
A customer representative is an individual who represents a community that intends to purchase a product. The term is most often applied to a representative of a company who works closely with a producer or developer to clarify specifications for a product or service. The term is used in software...
training in order to maintain their reputation for knowledgeable customer service.
Doctors Foster and Smith continued to pursue expansion, signing their first advertising contract in July 2002. Around the same time, catalog and internet departments were integrated to increase efficiency. Advertising efforts were expanded to television in 2003 with spots airing on Animal Planet
Animal Planet
Animal Planet is an American cable tv specialty channel that launched on October 1, 1996. It is distributed by Discovery Communications. A high-definition simulcast of the channel launched on September 1, 2007.-History:...
and Lifetime. The ads were aimed at reinforcing the idea that the company's catalog items are hand selected by veterinarians, according to the then marketing director Joe Voellinger.
Product development
In 2003, Drs. Foster and Smith moved into product development, introducing its own brands of cat and dog food. The brands were formulated by the company's on-staff veterinarians, aiming at the premium end of the market. Around the same time, company sales were boosted through an auto-replenishment program that automatically billed customers for regularly bought items – food and certain medicines – after an email reminder a few days prior. In exchange for joining the auto-replenishment program, customers received discounted shipping charges. Within a few months, over 2,000 customers were using the program. Also in 2003, a new call center was opened in Hazelhurst, WisconsinHazelhurst, Wisconsin
Hazelhurst is a town in Oneida County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,267 at the 2000 census. The unincorporated community of Hazelhurst is located in the town.Hazelhurst describes itself as the "Quiet side of the North Woods."-Geography:...
.
In 2005, Doctors Foster and Smith launched its "state-of-the-art" Aquaculture Coral Facility in Rhinelander. The opening drew 250 coral reef
Coral reef
Coral reefs are underwater structures made from calcium carbonate secreted by corals. Coral reefs are colonies of tiny living animals found in marine waters that contain few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups. The polyps...
enthusiasts for the first annual Coral Conference and Frag Swap, organized by Greater Minnesota Reef Society founder Jim Grassinger. Later in 2005, the company attracted some national attention by donating over $100,000 worth of pet supplies to Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
animal rescue efforts.
In May 2007, Drs. Foster and Smith recalled its Adult Lite dog & cat food products as a precautionary measure. The products' manufacturer, Chenango Valley Pet Foods, was one of many companies who received contaminated rice protein
2007 pet food recalls
The 2007 pet food recalls comprise the contamination and wide recall of many brands of cat and dog foods beginning in March 2007, and the ensuing developments involving the human food supply. The recalls in North America, Europe, and South Africa came in response to reports of renal failure in pets...
from China that year. Foster & Smith took the unusual measure of personally contacting customers who had recently purchased the potentially contaminated product. The company quickly reformulated its pet food to no longer contain rice protein, and later switched manufacturers.
Branching out
In April 2007, Drs. Foster and Smith acquired the pet division of electronic retailer Neeps Incorporated. The acquisition added 600 mostly ferret-related specialty products to the Foster & Smith catalog.In July 2007, Drs. Foster and Smith signed an agreement with Target, that enabled the company to move into brick and mortar retail for the first time. The deal placed Foster & Smith branded products in approximately 900 of Target's 1500 stores. According to Drs. Foster and Smith Internet Marketing Manager Gordon Magee, Target approached the company because it "was looking for a good quality brand" to enhance its merchandise selection in the higher end of the market.
Also in 2007, Drs. Foster and Smith was profiled by The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
as an early adapter of videos showing 360-degree views of catalog products. Magee told The Times "it'll become a major thing in e-commerce." In 2008, the company added an in-house studio to boost their video production.
Pet Pharmacy
In 2010, Drs. Foster and Smith's licensed compounding pet pharmacy earned seals of accreditation from Vet-VIPPS ( Veterinary-Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites) and PCAB (Pharmacy Compounding Accreditation Board).Faithful Friends
In 2008, Race Foster and Marty Smith were given a show on Animal Planet. Entitled Drs. Foster and Smith's Faithful Friends, the program focused on providing veterinary advice on how to better care for one's pets. The program, which ran for two seasons, featured celebrity interviews, hands-on demonstrations, and an "Ask the Vet" segment. NASCAR racer Jeff GordonJeff Gordon
Jeffery Michael "Jeff" Gordon is a professional NASCAR driver. He is the driver of the #24 Drive to End Hunger/DuPont/Pepsi Chevrolet Impala. He is a four-time Sprint Cup Series champion and a three-time Daytona 500 winner. He is third on the all-time wins list, with 85 career wins, and has the...
, Wrestler Bill Goldberg
Bill Goldberg
Goldberg earned a scholarship to play for the University of Georgia Bulldogs football team where he served as a defensive tackle. He was taken in the 11th round, with the 302nd overall selection, in the 1990 NFL Draft....
, and Gordon Magee provided voices for animated characters. Frontman of thrash metal
Thrash metal
Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...
band Megadeth
Megadeth
Megadeth is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California which was formed in 1983 by guitarist/vocalist Dave Mustaine, bassist Dave Ellefson and guitarist Greg Handevidt, following Mustaine's expulsion from Metallica. The band has since released 13 studio albums, three live albums, two...
Dave Mustaine
Dave Mustaine
David Scott "Dave" Mustaine is the founder, main songwriter, guitarist, and lead vocalist for the American heavy metal band Megadeth. Prior to Megadeth, Mustaine was the first lead guitarist and a co-songwriter of the heavy metal band Metallica until he was fired from the band in 1983. In 2009, he...
's daughter Electra appeared in "Itty Biddy Buddies" segments of the show. Animal Planet marketed Faithful Friends as "the definitive source for your pet's wellness and a home for professional veterinarian advice." Magee, who oversaw production of the show on behalf of Drs. Foster and Smith, described it as a logical way for Drs. Foster and Smith to help pet owners.
Growth time line
| Year | Annual sales | Employees | Catalog distribution | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | $30,000 | 2 | 16,000 | |
| 1998 | 300+ | 20,000,000 | ||
| 2000 | $125,000,000 | ~450 | 25,000,000 | |
| 2002 | $156,000,000 | 400+ | ||
| 2003 | $170,000,000 | ~600 | 40,000,000 | |
| 2006 | $232,000,000 | 550 | 50,000,000 | |
| 2008 | $250,000,000 |
Reputation
A 1994 Chicago Sun-TimesChicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
review called the Drs. Foster and Smith catalog "a dog-gone good source" for pet products, while the Star Tribune
Star Tribune
The Star Tribune is the largest newspaper in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is published seven days each week in an edition for the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area. A statewide version is also available across Minnesota and parts of Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota, and North Dakota. The...
has called it "a good resource for people who can't get to the pet superstores." In 1999, the company made Multichannel Merchants list of best catalog copy, ranking second. Multichannel remarks "their catalog is as much a manual of health care as it is ... product for sale", and states that one feels "these guys really care about puppies and kittens". In 2004, Drs. Foster and Smith won the "Consumer Cataloger of the Year Award" from Catalog Success.
Internet Retailer listed DrsFosterSmith.com as among the "Best of the Web Top 50" in 2006. As of 2010, the website is ranked #100 in the Internet Retailer "Top 500" retail websites. In 2007, a ForeSee Results
Foresee results
ForeSee is an international customer experience analytics firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Using the methodology of the American Customer Satisfaction Index which was founded at the University of Michigan , ForeSee continuously measures satisfaction across customer touch points and delivers...
survey ranked Doctors Foster and Smith fifth in customer satisfaction among the 100 highest-grossing online retailers. The company scored 81 points out of a possible 100, with the highest score (85) being earned by Netflix
Netflix
Netflix, Inc., is an American provider of on-demand internet streaming media in the United States, Canada, and Latin America and flat rate DVD-by-mail in the United States. The company was established in 1997 and is headquartered in Los Gatos, California...
.
In a 2001 review for The Washington Times
The Washington Times
The Washington Times is a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. It was founded in 1982 by Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon, and until 2010 was owned by News World Communications, an international media conglomerate associated with the...
, Joe Szadkowski gave PetEducation.com an "A" rating and said the website featured "an incredible array of 'I didn't know that' facts." He stated that the site's search engine and linked articles made finding needed information hassle free. Saying the site was worth visiting often, he added "I particularly enjoyed the section 'Cases From Our Clinic'." Lisa Knox of the Lancaster New Era describes the advice found on PetEducation.com as both "practical and common-sense."
LiveAquaria.com's Aquaculture Coral Facility has been called "one of the best I've ever seen" by marine aquarium expert Julian Sprung
Julian Sprung
Julian Sprung is an American writer on marine aquarium fishkeeping. He is an alumnus of the University of Florida where he studied zoology, graduating in 1988....
.
Race Foster
Race Foster received his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Michigan State UniversityMichigan State University
Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...
where he earned the 1983 Feline Medicine and Surgery Award for academic achievements in feline medicine. He is the co-author of five books on pet health, care, and behavior.
Foster served two terms on the Board of Directors of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital at Michigan State University.
Marty Smith
Marty Smith received his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree at Iowa State UniversityIowa State University
Iowa State University of Science and Technology, more commonly known as Iowa State University , is a public land-grant and space-grant research university located in Ames, Iowa, United States. Iowa State has produced astronauts, scientists, and Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, along with a host of...
. In addition to co-authoring books with Foster, he has written hundreds of articles on pet health, care, and behavior. He currently does consulting work for pet organizations, breeders, and trainers across the United States.
Smith has shown several English Setter
English Setter
The English Setter is a breed of dog. It is part of the Setter family, which includes red Irish Setters, Irish Red and White Setters, and black-and-tan Gordon Setters. It is a gun dog, bred for a mix of endurance and athleticism.- Appearance :...
s on the national circuit, including Ch. Sevenoaks Golden Garters ("Vegas") who was the 1997 American and Canadian Grand National Champion.
External links
- Official Doctors Foster and Smith website
- PetEducation.com - Veterinary education library run by Drs. Foster & Smith
- Official homepage of the Faithful Friends TV Show
- Business Week Profile of Drs. Foster & Smith