Interesting

Well that sucks. LiveAquaria has been pretty much the best online fish retailer. (Lots of places for corals and inverts.)

If they give us LiveAquaria quality with PetCo online pricing, that would be nice... I know better though. It will be PetCo "quality" and LiveAquaria pricing.

 

Ya that sucks

 

My prediction. Petco has eliminated their biggest online competitor. Business practices will remain the same as they believe profits will increase due to elimination of competition. LiveAquaria will cease to exist as a direct sales point. They will keep the facilities open as a distributor with their retail stores getting stock from it as well as Petco.com. Another faint but more positive possibility is that Petco will eliminate all their fresh and salt tanks except maybe a couple tanks for holding and maybe goldfish (or other commonly purchased fish). They will use the increased retail shelf space to add more DFS dry goods in store. The holding tanks will be used for in-store pickup for online purchased items. In this later scenario, Liveaquaria may or may not cease to exist as a sales point, at the very least I'd say the inventory will be mirrored on Petco.com. LA has a big web presence, when you search fish or coral names, LA is usually the top link for information. The main reason I propose this "better" scenario is that in recent years Petco has been phasing out its saltwater sections. So I can't really see Petco going the opposite direction and increasing their livestock selections in-store when they've been downsizing it over the past 10 years.

 

Honestly I dont see much of anything changing.

There will be much better buying power, making the companies more profitable. Drs F&S often sold items cheaper then I could buy them for at the store. Exampe Mag9.5 pump would cost me $100, and they would have it retailed for $90. But they would buy a semi load at a time. They sell so many of the same things already.

I can see live aquaria helping with animal husbandry and education in stores. Look for descriptions of fish, and less expert only animals in stores.

Believe it or not, Live Aquaria is a very very small percentage of company sales. Over 75% of their business is dog & cat alone.

I think what Petco is looking for is CREDEBILITY. They have been working hard on their image, and I think this is another step towards that.

 

I agree with xroads. The LiveAquaria director says he's excited about this. I imagine that he knows more about the business and the impact this will have on his company than any of us.

I also think the Petco business guys are smart. They know a good thing when they see one, and they know their "in-store" reputation. Though in their defense, Petco's mail order system is comparable to most other online sites. They aren't going to go in, fire everyone, hire new people, and change the entire dynamic of LiveAquaria.

 

This can be a great thing for the aquarium trade. I agree that greater buying power can help drive down the cost. Also some of the things that you never get the chance to see could show up in your local store.

Petco is and has been working on making changes in their store to support the hobby.

 

I hope Petco.coms daily 20% off coupons will work on the Live Aquaria site!

 

I'm pretty sure that's not how it's going to work... that's kind of like saying my will my coupon for $.50 off quaker oats product work towards a 12pk of Mt dew..... same owner or parent company but different branch/company of PepsiCo

 

This was posted over on another forum.

"Greetings,
I would like to take a moment to respond and address some concerns posted in this thread.

Dr. Race Foster and Dr. Marty Smith have worked incredibly hard over the last 31 years, to build an incredibly successful business, which revolves around education, pet heath, and responsible pet ownership. The Petco mission is elevating the lives of animals and enhancing the connection people have with their pets, with a commitment to the highest standards of social responsibility, while continually striving to make things better for pets, people and the planet. Understanding each company’s mission and goals are very similar, we feel this partnership and synergy is going to be beneficial to animals, pet owners, and aquarium hobbyists and enthusiasts alike.

I can assure everyone, my personal mission as the LiveAquaria Director is to take LiveAquaria.com to an even higher level than ever before. The continued expansion of our Aquaculture Coral and Marine Life facility in Rhinelander Wisconsin, home of the LiveAquaria.com Divers Den®, allows us to offer an even greater assortment of quality aquatic life shipped direct to your door.

Rest assured, Dr. Race Foster and I are not going anywhere, and will continue to operate Drs. Foster and Smith pet supplies and LiveAquaria.com as it's business as usual. Both Race and I are incredibly excited for the future and what lies ahead. "

Kindest Regards,
Kevin Kohen
Director of LiveAquaria
Drs. Foster and Smith

 

I do not think that this is going to be a good thing. Have you seen the Waterloo Store?
I called the corporate office about 6 months ago, and they had the district manager get a hold of me to discuss some of the conditions of the tanks. For example:
Pumps not running.
Filthy
Fish look poorly taken care of, and having signs of Ick.

She assured me that a lot of it was due to the new tanks that they set up and the new employees that they received. She said that she would have a surprise manager visit and she herself would visit the store within 2 weeks-this was 6 months ago-with no improvement.
Not sure this is the most appropriate post, but since it is the topic, thought I would voice my concerns. Thank you!

 

I like the price of some stuff at Petco sores, but man... The store in Windsor Heights is now starting to sell poison dart frogs. And talking to the herp manager, the only thing he knew to do with them is to keep the tank really humid.. Now, I won't go into detail on all the things I found wrong with that, but I can assure you that if they're fine selling PDFs to people with NO knowledge, they'll sell the same saltwater fish to those with NO knowledge. Their "frag tank" goes to show how they conduct themselves. However, they do get nice specimens in, but they can't sell them very well because 1) people want Nemo, and 2) they let them deteriorate into non-salvageable frags. Such a bummer... Maybe this buyout will come with education on how to properly sell/keep exotic animals, but I don't have my hopes up. Here here for cheap tanks though!

 

Most of the dedicated staff know how to keep things... they just don't have the option as it is all controlled by corporate... that's just how it is sadly. Most time I have been in a petco I have had to stop and correct staff for incorrect advise and often downright dangerous suggestions. The purchase is a business move, it won't provide any more education then they have. And they as 10-1 doing it for drygoods. The fish are not all that profitable for them as they almost all die before being sold. And a distributor can work with anyone. They are not purchasing them to get better deals on fish...

Who knows where it will goes. But more than likely it will turn out to be crap for the consumer, as is typical of mergers and consumerism. God bless capitalism!

 

Combining 2 of the largest online retailers in the industry will allow the combined company to increase their profits through maximizing synergy and operational efficiency. Over the next several years they will probably close distribution centers that overlap and combine managerial and accounting positions, retaining the most talented workforce they can increasing net sales and margin. I would expect very little to change from the consumers perspective prices definitely won't go down (or up for that matter). On a positive, Petco has nothing in their current portfolio like Divers Den, so I doubt any changes would be made to that business unit. The normal liveaquaria site is very similar to Petco's, I would bet the fish come from the same place already.
As has been stated, the "Fish Department" of both companies is such a small portion of their business! I doubt major changes are planned at this point, but it wouldn't surprise me to see Divers Den rebranded as PETCO Divers Den in the coming years.

Unless you are a warehouse worker, or manager for Petco.com there is probably NOTHING to worry about.

But......I've been wrong before.