Petco and PatSmart are the two largest chain of full-line pet stores in the United States, together accounting for about 30% of sales of pet products in this country. Now the two companies are in the very beginning of talks exploring a possible merger that would make it by far the largest retail chain of pet products.
Petco and PetSmart have flirted with merging and outright acquisitions over the years but the two privately-owned companies have seen their ownership change a few times recently themselves. The merger talks between Petco and PetSmart are still in embryonic stages but if the merger succeeds, the effects of having one mega-chain of pet products could have wide reaching consequences for the aquarium hobby at large.
Neither Petco nor PetSmart have much mindshare with the marine aquarium hobby, as only a small number of Petco stores even carry live saltwater animals. But both companies carry more than enough marine aquarium products to have the combined clout to make demands on manufacturers of entry-level marine aquarium equipment and accessories.
在过去的几年中Petco acquiring Drs. Fosters and Smithincluding our beloved LiveAquaria. The year prior,Ecotech Marine和Aqua照明合并as a single company which caused quite a stir the diehard hobbyist who feared we’d see consolidation and fewer market choices.
但是,佩特科(Petco)对Drs的收购。Foster和Smith以及Ecotech与AI之间的合并为前者和后者的用户带来了很少的变化。因此,在大多数情况下,这些合并的实质变化仅导致文书差异,但大多是改善的客户体验。
If the Petco and PetSmart deal does go through, it would be a while until both companies could integrate enough to ‘make moves’ in the marine aquarium hobby. The rise in popularity of saltwater tanks and live coral reef aquariums will surely not go unnoticed by the suits at a possible PetSmartCo but we’ll have to wait and see if this deal actually goes through, and what, if any, changes they make that affect our marine aquarium hobby. [路透社]