You must be pre-registered in order to participate.  

Join us for a tour of 4 local retail outlets to see U.S. in-store merchandising strategy in practice.  The itinerary contains stops at a variety of pet product retailers including PetSmart(New format Pinnacle store), Petco(New Nexus format w/full services inc. Vet), Walmart( New test store), and Pet Supermarket. The tour includes a pet industry market briefing and guided tour from our moderator and retail specialist, Dave Bolen.

About Our Moderator: 

With over 30 years in retail management and more than a decade spent in executive roles at two of the largest pet specialty stores in the U.S., Petco and Pet Supplies, our on-board moderator, Dave Bolen, will guide you through each stop, answering questions and offering insights about the U.S. marketplace, trends, and tips for success. The tour includes a market briefing and bus transportation.  

 Click here to register.

APPA will be hosting a meeting for Pet Food and Treat Manufacturers to discuss the latest regulatory updates. Stop by for lunch and hear Dr. David Dzanis, APPA’s Pet Food Nutritionist, speak about the newest regulatory developments that are being proposed by AAFCO and the FDA. 

Among the topics Dr. Dzanis will be discussing are new definitions that were passed at the AAFCO midyear meeting that now require all uses of the term "buffalo" be further qualified in order to prevent potentially misleading characterizations as to the source of the ingredient. Other new regulations to be discussed are ones clarifying the means of expressing microorganism and enzyme guarantees, as well as exemptions from some guarantees, and regulations clarifying the use of ingredients in product names. Dr. Dzanis also will report on the progress being made with AAFCO's Pet Food Labeling Modernization efforts.

There is no need to register for this meeting and all APPA members are invited to attend. 

Every pet retailer with employees has had these problems; people who cannot sell; people who cannot have their register tally correctly; people who make no effort to participate in the tasks of the store. Unfortunately, most retailers have tried repeatedly to tell employees what they want to happen without getting the desired results. 

Attend this pre-show afternoon session and we will show you proven ways that will help you get the results you want. Bring your staff too as we will show them how to improve their skills while you learn how to teach others how to make selling effective and fun!

This workshop is designed to assist the small to medium size pet retailer in sourcing ways to enhance their “Retail IMPACT” in today’s ultra-competitive retail pet marketplace. Your trainer, Chris Miller, specializes in retail stores, having designed, consulted, and built well over 3500+ stores in the last 39 years. Chris’ experience in all walks of retail life will lend literally hundreds of new ideas from store design, interior fixturing, visual merchandising, and staff training that workshop attendees will be able to take back and implement in their store immediately!

Building meaningful social connections with your pet business customers—along with their trusted circles—can help drive loyalty and even revenue. But is your business ready to capitalize on the social commerce opportunity?

Buyers have an opportunity to get a preview of the New Products Showcase at 8:00am  before the Show officially opens for the day. This is an exclusive opportunity for Buyers, and badges will be required in order to gain entrance into this 45,000 square foot area of new products hitting the store shelves this year. 

Learn advanced design ideas using upscale lighting, colors and finishes, signage and graphics, ceiling affects, design textures, flooring, feature display ideas, sound, environmental aroma, and space allocation. Hear multiple design secrets to keep customers in your store longer, and conclude the session with tips on costing and budgeting for higher return on investment (ROI).

Buying for retail is not easy. There is a lot to analyze, watch, and do! In this informative seminar, Dan Jablons of Retail Smart Guys will reveal what the best buyers in the industry do to improve sales, create more cash, grab market share, and increase profitability.

Hear from a veteran store owner how you should evolve vs. revolve to build your business, practices, and culture around your customers. Attend this session to learn how to craft your small business to maximize your customer relationships & experiences as well as how to innovate and adapt to a world that demands convenience and (nearly) instant gratification. Walk out with real action items to immediately begin building success.

Waterlily flowers have always been a sign of beauty from the ancient Egyptians to artists like Monet. Capture this beauty and help increase sales in your own retail stores. Water garden plants are a great seasonal item for spring and summer to help boost sales. Container water gardens take up very little space and can fit anywhere from apartment balconies to backyard decks making great additions to almost all your existing customers homes. We will discuss plant varieties, care techniques, and tips to make your customers successful.

If you own a Grooming Salon or Grooming Department, adding a Bath Club Membership to your list of services is one way to increase your income with little to no expense. In this seminar learn how you can turn your clients into your best advocates by inviting them to take advantage of a monthly Bath Club Membership. Adding a Bath Club Membership brings in extra income, helps with monthly Grooming appointments, and gives your clients an opportunity to buy more retail merchandise in your store! Hear best practices and pro tips to avoid program mistakes and to increase your bottom line.

Consumers are empowered with more information than ever before and are looking for personalized product offerings for the needs of their pets - making way to a new era of
attribute-driven buying behavior. For pet retailers trying to navigate these nuanced shopper motivations, there’s a lot to consider in order to appeal to these consumers, including label language, third-party certifications, ingredient choices, nutrition, and more. Understanding your pet parents’ desires and behaviors is critical to informed business and growth strategy. Learn how retailers can use data to enhance the shopper experience, stock shelves smarter and better meet the needs of pet parents, plus how to leverage data to capitalize on growing their business by getting ahead of innovation.

If you are like the average retailer, you are inadvertently giving away your profits every day. Item and price advertising spending in traditional and social media is expensive and gives away margins and dollars. This profit increasing session uses a free calculator from the Profits Plus website illustrating how a small change in your marketing can protect your margins and increase the number of transactions and customers in your business.

What are important considerations for keeping the fish in your store healthy and sellable? In this seminar, I’ll briefly review acclimation considerations and then discuss factors important for maintaining healthy fish including water quality, nutrition, general health and disease management, and biosecurity. I will also provide suggestions for record keeping and written health and disease management protocols.

Learn how making your business “cool” and employing “fomo” (fear-of-missing-out!) can turn your clients into a social media marketing machine! You’ve got a beautiful store, top notch services, and the best product selection. Now all you need is...buzz! In this seminar, see how you can make small changes to your business to create the BUZZ your store needs.

Finding, developing, and keeping a great sales staff is one of the most challenging elements of running a retail store. What are today’s successful retailers doing to get the best staff that help achieve great sales and great relationships with customers? Dan Jablons of Retail Smart Guys will show you the secrets to getting the dream team on your floor.

Are you stopping to listen and consider how the buying behaviors of your customers are changing? Are you willing to do what it takes to evolve and adapt to their requests? If so, you might just find a whole new type of loyalty and success. Discussing the imperative value of intentionally setting aside time and resources to open up dialogue with your customers, track their trends, and stay ahead of new market forces that are affecting changes in your market. Utilize simple tools and strategies to track buying behavior and capitalize on client relationships in order to develop a more intuitive action plan for acquiring and keeping customers.

With a an omnimarket look across dog and cat product categories, this presentation of Packaged Facts research provides a key-opportunity update on U.S. pet market size and growth.  Discussion will cover shifts in pet owner demographics, channel shopping and ecommerce trends, the remixing pet food and nutrition options, technology and digital pet care innovation, the role of subscription products and services, and the escalating battle for customer loyalty.

Instagram has become “the new home for brands,” where engagement is high, followers are brand-loyal, and real business goals can be achieved. Are you using IG as a pivotal piece of your pet business marketing? If not, NOW is the time!

Join us for this #allthingsinstagram session and walk away with the tools and tactics you will need to have an IG page that gets engagement and attention from your pet business customers! Attendees will learn:

• Lessons to maximize the effectiveness that lead to sales —thru IG and back at the store
• Learn how to use the latest IG tools to make your posts seen by more people more often
• Learn how to use IG Stories to sell products/services for your pet business

Join us for this session and you’ll walk away with access to the know-how and the tools to create, plan and implement content for your Instagram page that will connect with your customers on a daily basis!

Dr. Susan Little, famous cat veterinarian, Purr Podcast host and author of two feline textbooks, will talk about how nutrition is important for feline health. Her lectures are fun, informative and based on nutritional truths that might just debunk a few of the ideas you've likely read online.

From CBD to grain-free to alternative proteins - the pet industry is in a state of change as families place emphasis on the types of products they buy to fuel their furry or scaly kids. The natural and specialty pet market has adapted human health and wellness trends, driving innovation in pet products now more than ever. Join pet industry expert, Amy Kerr of SPINS for an overview of how pet innovation manifests in the marketplace, including hot functional ingredients in pet food, treats and wellness care segments, plus how natural and organic pet products stack up against conventional items.

Business is built by relationships and we want you to have every opportunity to meet everyone at the show.  Our fabulous FREE Networking Reception gives you the time and place to rub elbows with people you might never have another opportunity to meet.  Have a drink, some eats and mix it up with new friends and old. 

No registration is required but please wear your badge to the event.

Event is sponsored by:

Buyers have an opportunity to get a preview of the New Products Showcase at 8:00am  before the Show officially opens for the day. This is an exclusive opportunity for Buyers, and badges will be required in order to gain entrance into this 45,000 square foot area of new products hitting the store shelves this year. 

Start the day with a healthy buffet breakfast while outstanding pet specialty stores are honored with the Ninth-Annual Retailer Excellence Awards. Then, after the awards ceremony, stick around for our Retailer Roundtable Discussions, where expert Global Pet Expo Academy speakers will facilitate peer-to-peer roundtable conversations about the hottest topics impacting pet product retailers. You're guaranteed to leave with practical, actionable business-building ideas and valuable new connections with your peers.

No registration is required but please wear your badge to the event.

Find out how a new Pet Store Pro chapter can help you prevent Zoonotic diseases and protect the health and safety of your staff, customers and pets.

What does it take to keep great employees motivated and average employees striving to improve? Coaching, that’s what! In this workshop, you’ll learn key skills for knowing when to coach, how to provide positive feedback, and how to redirect poor performance with performance improvement feedback. In this fun, interactive, and information-packed program, Communication and Customer Service Expert Amy Castro will share tips, tools, and techniques for getting top performance from your “best in show” employees and how to get poor performers back on track.

Did you know that according to the Direct Marketing Association, for every dollar you invest in email, you get $4 back!? And if you unsubscribe rate is less than 2% - you're not annoying anyone. That's GREAT news, however, it's not just about sending a random email once a month or every other week. It's about constant, consistent and targeted emails. In this session, we'll show you a variety of email concepts from opt-ins and nurture sequences, to sales funnels and weekly newsletters, and exactly the data that you should track from your customers.

Dana Brooks, president and CEO of the Pet Food Institute (PFI), provides an update on FDA's investigation into dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and any possible relation to diet. What do the current available facts mean for pet food makers, retailers, and stakeholders across the entire pet sector?

Get a first look at the newest volume of APPA’s Generational Report! Come learn what makes the different generations tick when it comes to their pets. This seminar will feature a topline look at pet ownership by generation, including spending, attitudinal, and pet product and service usage data and for the first time, see how Gen Z pet owners compare. The presentation will also include a snapshot look at the 2019-2020 National Pet Owners Survey data.

There is a great opportunity in Pet Retail to capture and keep aquatic shoppers as retail locations featuring live fish are drying up. There are 7.5 million aquatic supply purchasing households in the US today, according to Nielsen Panel Data through October 2019. Given the shrinking number of retailers selling live fish, it is important to understand the how to attract and engage potential new shoppers to the hobby. In our discussion I will outline a key underserved shopper group, their purchasing habits and their annual spend. You can leverage this shopper intelligence to optimize your assortment, marketing programs and in store signage to target this group and grow your sales base.

Products containing hemp and CBD are the hottest in the industry right now, with new product announcements hitting our news feeds daily. But significant misunderstanding exists around the status of these types of products, as well as risk assumed by both the supplier and the retailer. This presentation provides an overview of the landscape since the passing of the 2018 Farm Bill, and a status update on this dynamic and inconsistent business and regulatory environment. Should you get in now? Should you wait? What are the risks, what does the future look like, and how can you help?

Learning how to find your voice and express it in a way that will attract people to you and your pet establishment is a challenge for many pet retail store owners. Many of us come into the pet industry because of our love of pets but may be shy or unsure of how to get our ideas and voice heard without imposter syndrome creeping its way into our heads. Your pet parent audience is not as engrossed in the industry as we are – and they are looking for your expertise, guidance, and information. This seminar will give you ideas and ways to use your voice whether it is in person at your store, in an educational session, on live video and more.

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Zoonotic diseases—illnesses that can be transmitted between and among humans and animals—can threaten the health and safety of your staff, customers and pets. The newest Pet Store Pro chapter can teach your team members essential safe hygiene and handling practices to help you protect human and animal health. Hear from the chapter’s expert contributors how various zoonotic diseases spread, the signs and symptoms in animals and humans associated with the diseases, and the steps to take to prevent them.

What to carry in your aquatics department? That might seem like a no-brainer. The question is: have you explored all the different possibilities, or do you just go with the flow? If your store does not stand out from your competition, why are people going to choose you over the others? Through the years, it has been my experience and observation that stores with a diverse selection of types and species of fish - draw the most customers. So - I present a short synopsis of the major groups of freshwater fish and why it is important to know their interrelationships and salability. There will be a handout to follow during the talk.

Everyone is talking about experiential marketing. In this session, start with your in-store (virtual or brick and mortar) experiential opportunities and learn how to build it with return on investment in mind. Surprise and delight for the consumer doesn't mean losing money for you the retailer. Learn how to build a great experiential moment and make money at it.

Each year, the organizers of Global Pet Expo and Pet Business magazine partner to honor stand-out pet specialty retailers with the Retailer Excellence Awards. Come hear past winners as they reveal their secrets to success and provide practical advice that attendees can easily implement in their own stores to drive sales and build a deeper connection with the communities they serve. Moderator, Mark Kalaygian, is Publishing Director & Editor-in-Chief of Pet Business magazine.

According to a Packaged Facts 2018 survey of U.S. pet owners, 37% of online pet shoppers say they're buying pet products online more than they used to, and 14% have made a purchase within the last seven days. The big-box stores continue to grab giant shares of U.S. pet owners' business while the independent, hard-working, hometown retailers clamor to compete with these giants. The key to business success for any retailer is to give customers something they can't get elsewhere: education, information, and an experience that keeps them Labrador Loyal! In this fun, interactive, and information-packed session, communication and customer service expert, Amy Castro, will share the top 7 things independent pet industry professionals can do to keep customers coming back again, and again and again!

This presentation examines how the pet care market is changing around the world, highlighting six major frontiers of change. From geographic and retail shifts to new ingredients and pricing strategies, pet care manufacturers will leave equipped with context and strategies to plan for the future of their business.

Do you know if you have enough SKUs in your assortment? How do you know when you have too many? In this session, learn to do a proper sku assessment and find some dollars in your lineup to be able to get the best return on your investment. Figure out what to do with low turning sku’s, and when and how to get out of SKUs that you’ve invested in. This is a hand’s on session - recommended that retailers bring their sku assortment to maximize this session.

Dr. Susan Little, famous cat veterinarian, Purr Podcast host and author of two feline textbooks, will talk about how nutrition is important for feline health. Her lectures are fun, informative and based on nutritional truths that might just debunk a few of the ideas you've likely read online.

As a pet industry retailer, your objective is to provide products that meet/exceed customer expectations so they will return and buy the product again, and to leverage the return visit so they buy other products AND tell their friends, helping you acquire new customers. Whew! This panel of leading retailers will provide their direct experiences with stocking and selling hemp and CBD products, with lessons on what to do, what to avoid, and questions they wish they had asked prior to brining the products in. Bill Bookout will moderate this panel and facilitate a Q&A session.

If you really want to be up on new trends and hot products for 2019, make a plan to attend the annual New Products Showcase Awards Presentation. 

Each year, more and more manufacturers wait to launch their new products in the New Products Showcase so they have a chance to win first place in the Best in Show contest. The media attention our awards get is incredible and long lasting. 

Nine winners will receive a Best in Show award in the following categories:

• Aquatics    • Bird   • Boutique   • Cat   • Dog   • Natural Pet • Small Animal   • Reptile   • Point-of-Purchase Display 

After a long two days at Global Pet Expo, first-time exhibitors are invited to get acquainted with APPA staff, service providers and other new APPA members. Join us to mix and mingle with new APPA members.  Hors d’oeuvres, beer and wine will be served.

There are many ways in which your business can be the go-to place in your town or city – but are you set in your ways or not willing to try something new? Instead of worrying about what everyone else is doing or those online retailers, this seminar will give you: many ideas, ways to execute those ideas, and tools to be your own competition.

Winners from the Pets+ America's Coolest Stores contests share how they found success by going beyond what customers expect from a pet business. Hear how creating a unique outside-the-box business model can differentiate your business from your competitors. Among the panelists will be Leib Dodell, co-owner of Bar K in Kansas City, MO; Angela Pantalone, owner of Wag Central in Stratford, CT; and Nancy Guinn, co-owner of Dog Krazy stores in VA. All have tackled verticals even outside their industry. Moderated by Pamela Mitchell, Pets+ Senior Editor.

Wondering what to do with all the social media and content you’ve been building? Social media is but one portion of a bigger marketing plan. Marketing plans should ultimately result in conversions to increased sales. This session looks at the components of a marketing plan, and how to build a bigger program. Bring your marketing plan to this session to see where the gaps are and let Phil show you how to create a more effective strategy.

Discover the three pillars that make pet businesses across the country successful (it’s really the foundation that holds the rest of the house up). No matter if you’re a newbie or a seasoned pet pro, when you focus on these pillars it will help you get clear on where your opportunities are, help you build relationships critical to your success, and it will make you, the leader and visionary of your company, stronger. We all want quick fixes, but empires aren’t built overnight! Take these concepts seriously and you’ll be on your way to building YOUR Empire!