Walmart Expands Pet Care Offerings, Chewy Sellers Play Fetch

The largest U.S. retailer is betting big on the surge in pet ownership during the pandemic by launching a new Walmart Pet Care omnichannel.

What Happened: Walmart Inc WMT announced Thursday that its Walmart Pet Care platform will serve Bentonville's 90 million customers who are pet owners. 

The service will focus on affordable pet insurance and services like pet sitting and dog walking.

Walmart is collaborating with Allianz-owned pet insurance company Petplan. 

Each policy comes with $1,000 in virtual vet visits at no extra charge, Walmart said. 

Walmart is partnering with privately held Rover to provide Walmart customers with a platform to find pet sitters and dog walkers. 

Walmart customers will get a $20 store gift card if they use the Rover service and an additional $20 gift card on their fifth Rover service in six months.

Why It’s Important: Pet insurance is a large market that has addressable growth, with 98% of U.S. pets being uninsured.

Trupanion TRUP, a large pet insurance company, has seen its shares climb 126% in 2020.

The company went public in 2014 and shares are up over 1,000% as the company has grown revenue and its customer base.

“Especially as adoptions rates soar as a result of the pandemic and more people become pet owners, this was the perfect time to launch expanded services in Walmart Pet Care for our customers,” according to Walmart. 

Chewy Inc CHWY, an online pet retailer, has been a strong stock in 2020, with gains of 121%.

CHWY, TRUP Price Action: Chewy shares were down 2.02% at $62.67 at last check Thursday, while Trupanion shares were down 0.47% at $84.10.