There is conflicting evidence about the severity of the pandemic puppy boom when it seemed like almost everyone had adopted a dog as a lockdown companion. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals reported that more than 23 million U.S. households — nearly 1 in 5 nationwide — adopted a pet during the pandemic, but other local surveys suggest it wasn’t as big a boom as we thought . .
Either way, sentiment about pets has changed. Nearly all U.S. pet owners say their pets are part of their family, according to a July 2023 Pew Research Center survey. And Chewy, the leading e-commerce company in pet care, is taking that ball and running with it the trick by having hyper-personal interactions with its customers, who they affectionately call “pet parents.”
“Twenty or thirty years ago the pet was on the porch. Today they are on the couch, in your bed. And today you call them family,” said Sumit Singh, CEO of Chewy Fortune in a recent one Leadership follows podcast interview. Singh calls this concept the humanization of pets, which has led to “consumers wanting to be more aware and feel like better pet parents.”
High level customer service
Singh became CEO of Chewy in March 2018 and led the company through its 2019 IPO, raising more than $1 billion. Although it has been a busy six years in the saddle, Singh makes time for direct customer interactions – a task rarely taken on by CEOs. He answers customer emails directly and ensures they receive intimate attention during the “highs and lows of pet parenting,” such as when a beloved pet has passed away. You may have seen some of these gestures on social media, such as Chewy sending flowers to customers, handwritten cards, and even hand-drawn portraits of pets.
“We are sympathetic and empathetic,” Singh said. “That moment is a very special moment because most companies are not going to invest ‘X’ number of dollars to pick up flowers to send to customers and be there for them in that moment.”
But Singh remains committed to this level of care because he wants all Chewy customers to feel like they are visiting a Disney park every time they interact with the brand.
“I compare Chewy to the best hospitality resorts in the way you are served, the way you are treated and the way you are received [service], and the way you are respected when you walk through the hospitality resorts,” Singh said. “We deliver the scale and convenience of e-commerce, but… [with] the best personal service you can expect from the best pet store in the area.”
About Sumit Singh
Singh grew up in middle-class India with the values of “great respect for education and humility, curiosity and resilience,” he said. But he made the move to America, the “vast, amazing land of opportunity,” and went on to earn his master’s degree in operations and logistics from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from the highly competitive University of Chicago Booth School of Business . .
Singh has held senior leadership roles at Amazon and Dell, companies he said are “pioneers in their own fields.” At Amazon, he became a leader to help grow the e-commerce giant’s Fresh grocery business, a “very tough business to crack,” he said, an experience that taught him how to run perishables businesses and a “difficult” had to manage the situation. P&L. But one of the non-technical lessons he learned during his time at Amazon was the importance of personalized customer interactions, even at the highest levels of leadership.
“My email is available on LinkedIn. Customers contact me, [which is something] I learned from Jeff Bezos,” Singh said. “We have maintained a culture of innovation, a culture of customer service. I still read every email.”
And even in a working world where AI appears to be impacting customer interactions, Singh sees the emerging technology more as a “friend” to the company’s existing customer service representatives. In fact, Chewy is currently developing a tool called ‘CSR Buddy’, which will essentially serve as a faster tool that contains all the information about the customer and a knowledge base that will combine ‘content with [customer care representatives] having more intelligent conversations” with customers, Singh said.
“They should not spend time searching for information,” Singh said. “They have to spend time having a conversation. That is the difference.”
Under Singh’s leadership at Chewy, where he previously served as Chief Operating Officer from August 2017 to March 2018 before becoming CEO, the company has grown to a market value of $8.3 billion. Fortuneunder the likes of Disney, Amazon and Apple.
And while Singh didn’t necessarily come from an animal-focused career, he recognizes the importance of the companionship a pet provides. Indeed, his 11-year-old shih tzu, named D, is the main treat tester and visits Chewy’s office with him. But D doesn’t let his status get to his furry head among the other pups who come to the workplace with their pet parents.
“I don’t think he realizes he’s so special,” Singh said.