In brick-and-mortar stores, physical shelf space is limited, and your placement on those shelves is fixed, with planogram resets occurring only once or twice a year. The digital shelf, on the other hand, offers a seemingly infinite selection of products, and placement in search results and on category pages changes almost daily. This “endless aisle” and the low barrier to entry for e-commerce have made it much easier for new competitors to enter the pet food selling landscape. The more dynamic online environment has also made it easier for consumers to find and try these new products, thereby disrupting the brand loyalty established pet food manufacturers have spent decades cultivating.

Earning premium placement on the digital shelf requires pet food manufacturers to master the art of retailer search engine optimization. They must understand the various factors that influence their organic search rankings on pet retailer websites and optimize their product listings to show up on the first page of results for popular search queries.

Because consumers cannot physically touch items and read packaging when shopping online, pet food manufacturers must also ensure their product listings contain all of the information shoppers need to make a purchase. Image carousels and product descriptions must be optimized for conversion and merchandise all of a product’s key features and benefits.

All pet food retailers aren’t created equal. Each e-commerce platform is different, with its own separate search algorithm and capabilities for product detail page content. To dominate the digital shelf, manufacturers must become intimately familiar with the unique factors it takes to succeed on each online retailer. They also must be constantly vigilant and agile, as performance and requirements can quickly change and require individualized solutions depending on the retailer.

The pets that rule the Lippert household are two Golden Retrievers, Bo and Lou!