Chewy CEO Sumit Singh can be seen outside the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) prior to Chewy Inc.’s IPO. in New York, June 14, 2019.
Andrew Kelly | Reuters
Chewy CEO Sumit Singh said on Tuesday that calls to customer service have prompted the online pet supplies store to accelerate its plans to launch a virtual vet service – even though it was on the company’s roadmap for years to come.
“We started getting calls in our customer service / customer experience centers where customers were sitting at home saying, ‘Hey. My dog just ate chocolate and I can’t get a hold of my vet,’ ” Singh said at a virtual conference hosted by the National Retail Federation.
The director said his weekend mornings are spent reading customer reviews.
“A healthy level of anxiety is actually good because it keeps you paranoid,” he said. “It keeps you on your toes and it keeps you anticipating.”
The Virtual Vet Service, launched in October, is an example of how the company is trying to build on the momentum it saw during the pandemic.
He shrugged off the idea that after the pandemic, pet owners will buy more of their dog food, cat litter or pet toys from the store again, and said customers have formed new habits.
“We’ve been stuck for 10, 11 months now, most of the year,” he said. “Customers have had the opportunity to try out online models not only with pets, but also for a plethora of services, be it home delivery, food delivery, grocery shopping or pets. That really means a bit of a mental shift for customers. “
Shares of Chewy are up more than 265% in the past year as more Americans adopted pets and shopped online during the pandemic. The company’s market cap is more than $ 44 billion.
Still, its rapid rise during the global health crisis has left some investors and analysts wondering if it can sustain that pace of growth and hold on to customers for the long term. UBS cut Chewy and Peloton to sell on Tuesday. It said the online pet supplies retailer and fitness equipment company were both Covid-19 beneficiaries and could see that tailwind fade.
UBS has not changed its $ 75 price target for Chewy, down nearly 30% from where the stock is currently trading. Shares fell about 1% on Tuesday afternoon.
Sumit said it is watching trends that will shape over the next three to five years, including the acceleration towards more online shopping, the reliance on tools and technology to improve customer service, and whether people are returning to the office, working from home, or both to do.