When it comes to counting the winners of the Covid-19 economy, some competitors have more latency than bite. Those who specialize in home gym equipment or back porch furniture have years of difficult comparisons ahead.
Last week, another company that saw a business boom during the pandemic reported that it had added millions of new customers in the previous 12 months – most of which it expects to remain.
Petco, a pet supplies retailer, benefited from the pet boom during the long months of ordering to stay at home, when more than three million new pets were purchased or adopted.
“They enriched their stay at home and gave someone a hug,” Petco Chief Executive Ron Coughlin told me.
But the trends that drive business for Petco tell us more than just how Americans handled last year’s emotions. They reveal details about how months of living and working from home created new business opportunities in unlikely places, even at traditional retailers whose best days are long gone. Pet ownership in the United States has become its own economic barometer, similar to the way RV sales predict how the country is feeling economically secure. The dog boom is more than adorable. It is revealing in what it says about how we want to work and live in a post-pandemic world.