In the latest example of brick-and-mortar retail going after online competition, PetSmart has agreed to acquire rival e-commerce pet retailer Chewy.com in what could be the largest ever acquisition of its kind.
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The deal, valued at $3.35B, is bigger than Walmart’s record-setting $3.3B acquisition of online retailer Jet.com last year, Recode reports. Founded in 2011, Chewy has been growing rapidly, with revenue reportedly exceeding $100M a month and projected to achieve more than $1.5B in sales this year. PetSmart, which has 1,500-plus stores in North America, was acquired for $8.7B in a private equity buyout in 2014.
“We are focused on improving our customers’ experience in-store and online as we continue to execute against our long-term strategic initiatives,” PetSmart president and CEO Michael Massey said in a statement Tuesday. “Chewy’s high-touch customer e-commerce service model and culture centered around a love of pets is the ideal complement to PetSmart’s store footprint and diverse offerings.”
The giant brick-and-mortar pet retailer has been experiencing flat same-store sales as of late, and this move is the latest in a burgeoning trend of traditional retailers looking to beef up their digital presence through acquisitions. After purchasing Jet and online women’s apparel company ModCloth, Walmart is now pursuing a deal to acquire men’s clothing retailer Bonobos.
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