Personalization Reigns in Pet ID Offerings | Current Issue | petproductnews.com – PetProductNews.com

Visible ID tags and personalized collars with up-to-date contact information are a pet owner’s first line of defense when a dog or cat gets lost, and the rise in pet ownership over the past few years gave the category a boost, experts said.
Brick-and-mortar stores are where most ID tags are purchased, said Tom Glessner, chief commercial officer at Orlando, Fla.-based MyFamily USA, the U.S. distributor of MyFamily products. “The ability to purchase and personalize them in their stores should be a priority, because if they are not, then they are sending them to someone who is.”
Chris Powell, general manager of Powell Bros. Feed & Pet Supply in Vallejo, Calif., agreed, adding that hanging tags are the most requested and purchased. For a while, two-sided engravable tags sold best at Powell Bros., but now they sell more of the one-sided engravable designs, he said.
Popular tag shapes for dogs are bones, circles and hearts, reported Mark de Guzman, marketing for iMARC Engraving Systems, a Phoenix-based maker of pet tag engraver systems. Shape preferences for cats are similar, excluding bones, he said, adding that black, blue, red and pink remain the more dominant colors for dog and cat tags.
Customers will purchase multiple charms for the pet collar and even use them for their own keychains, Powell said, adding that cat owners especially like their breed depicted on one side, and designs featuring wild animals like tigers or panthers also sell well. Pet owners enjoy something that goes with their pet’s personality as well as fun or edgy phrases, he added.
Shoppers are drawn to tags that stand out from the crowd.
“Designs that express their pet’s personality or have features that make them better than your standard ID tag continue to grow in popularity,” Glessner said.
Durability is important, as well, noted Jenna Harrison, store manager for NorthPoint Pets and Co., a retailer in Cheshire, Conn.
“[Our customers] want a product that will last them as long as possible, through all the adventures they take with their pets,” she said.
Companies continue to provide a variety of pet identification options, from tried-and-true engravable tags to tech-oriented offerings.
This spring, MyFamily introduced several new tag designs across various collections.
“We now have Hushtags in XL sizes and vibrant color rubber boarders, and Houndstooth, Camouflage and Rainbow styles, but our new Food collection has really gotten the most attention,” said Tom Glessner, chief commercial officer at Orlando, Fla.-based MyFamily USA, the U.S. distributor of MyFamily products. “They are hand-filled epoxy tags that represent some of the most popular and iconic things we like to eat and drink.”
Hushtags come in a variety of shapes and colors and have infused rubber boarders, making them silent and resistant to scratching, Glessner explained. Food tag designs range from french fries and a burger to a cup of coffee or mug of beer.
At press time, Novato, Calif.-based Worldwise was working on launching PawscoutQR nationwide. The QR tags will have a personalized barcode that can be scanned by any mobile device to access the pet owner’s contact information should a pet become lost.
The company already offers the Bluetooth-enabled Pawscout pet tag. The tag nameplate comes in dozens of designs, from champagne and camo to watercolor and gunmetal, the company stated.
Another option in ID tech is the Link Smart Pet Wearable, designed to track a pet’s location, activity and wellness.
“Simply attach the small wearable device to your dog’s collar or harness and log in to the Link app to access all the most important data on your pup,” said April Boyce, chief marketing officer for Link My Pet in Jacksonville, Fla.
It offers real-time GPS location tracking, activity monitoring for a dog’s personalized exercise goals based on breed, age and size, a built-in flashlight and hot/cold ambient temperature alerts. The device tracks steps, miles and calories burned. The wellness aspect comes from the Link Vet symptom analysis checker, televet services, vet record storage and medication reminders, Boyce said.
“We are currently in discussions with a number of pet specialty retail distributors and expect Link to be available through the distributor channel in the coming months,” she added.
In-store engraving is another option for independents, and Phoenix-based iMARC Engraving Systems unveiled a Rotating Tag Easel for partners to easily display pet tags and help increase tag sales. Tags can be displayed on both the front and back of the easel, which includes 30 hooks, 300 bags and 300 card inserts.
Prominent product placement in stores is the No. 1 way to encourage sales of ID tags and collars for pets, experts agreed.
“Properly displaying an ID tag program is critical to its success,” said Tom Glessner, chief commercial officer at Orlando, Fla.-based MyFamily USA, the U.S. distributor of MyFamily products. “That is why MyFamily supplies award-winning displays, at no cost, that showcase its wide variety of engravable tags and incorporates Techla, the state-of-the-art self-service engraver, in one place.”
For conventional tags and collars, space is necessary. Powell Bros. Feed & Pet Supply in Vallejo, Calif., has a half-circle wall display with 72 different tags, a three-sided countertop spinner with another 30-plus tags, and a four-sided floor spinner of collars and leashes, said general manager Chris Powell.
“The setup is in the entrance or main showroom area we have, a few feet from the registers,” Powell said. “Being that they are easily accessible, you can see everything at once in the wall display, and the spinners make it easier to see everything—customers can browse easily.”
Similarly, the tag-engraving machine at NorthPoint Pets and Co., a retailer in Cheshire, Conn., sits adjacent to the front counter and is visible through the front display window, said store manager Jenna Harrison.
Displays at point-of-purchase are key to impulse sales.
“Having available pet tags in full view of the customer at the point of purchase will encourage impulse buying and can boost tag sales,” said Mark de Guzman, marketing for iMARC Engraving Systems, a Phoenix-based maker of pet tag engraver systems.
Digital pet tags are easily merchandised with leashes and collars or at other high-traffic areas such as at the registers, said Aaron Lamstein, co-founder of Worldwise and executive chairman for Pawscout brand in Novato, Calif.
“Our customers have had great success placing our Pawscout package in the leash and collar planograms. One industry leader placed our tags at the cash registers in PDQ [pretty darn quick] trays, where they saw substantial sales increases over regular POG [planogram] placement,” Lamstein said. “Another major retailer utilized our battery-powered monitors with short videos that can hang on a peg, which was very successful. Others place them on clip strips in high-volume locations.”
Insiders also recommended that staff members engage with shoppers.
“Stores that suggestively sell to anyone with a dog or cat in the store that does not have an ID tag are always the most successful,” Glessner said. “Even if their pet has a tag, showing customers the latest designs and asking if the information on [their pet’s tag] is up-to-date or is still easy to read can generate the purchase of a new tag.”
Communicating directly with customers “to emphasize the benefits of owning a pet tag and the added safety and peace of mind pet ID tags provide” is a good way to highlight these products, de Guzman said. Other strategies he suggested include running a social media contest, writing a blog, running ads in local publications that have print and online exposure, and emailing new and existing customers.
Technology has impacted many areas of the pet industry, and the pet ID category is seeing a rise in tech options and features, insiders said. In fact, the pet wearables category is experiencing massive growth, said April Boyce, chief marketing officer for Jacksonville, Fla.-based Link My Pet, maker of the Link Smart Pet Wearable.
The global pet wearable market is forecast to register a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.3 percent from 2022 to 2030, Boyce noted, citing Grand View Research’s Pet Wearable Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report.
As a result of advancements in technology, different products are available to help identify and/or locate a pet if it is lost or separated from its owner, noted Mark de Guzman, marketing for iMARC Engraving Systems, a Phoenix-based maker of pet tag engraver systems.
Many people know about microchip technology, which has been around for years and is commonly used today. Bluetooth and GPS are other technological advancements that have found their way onto a pet’s collar, de Guzman said.
“They give pet parents the advantage of tracking their pet’s location remotely; however, there are some limitations,” he said.
These include dependence on power, signal strength and the distance the pet can be from the signal.
Though his customers have shown little interest in the available apps, as pet owners become savvier, they demonstrate more interest, said Chris Powell, general manager of Powell Bros. Feed & Pet Supply in Vallejo, Calif. Specifically, “more people are asking about GPS tracking and about microchipping being GPS enabled,” he said.
Worldwise’s Pawscout brand focuses exclusively on emerging “smart” tag category of pet tags.
“The most important change to pet tags has really occurred in the last five years, with the move from ‘analog’ to ‘digital’ and connected items,” said Aaron Lamstein, co-founder of Worldwise and executive chairman for Pawscout brand in Novato, Calif. “A pet tag now contains substantially more than just the name of the pet and phone number of the pet parent. For example, smart pet tags contain contact information for multiple pet parents or guardians, medical information about the pet and so much more. We believe it’s the future.”
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