(Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc. has started its own brand of pet products, called Wag, expanding on existing private-label efforts that include batteries, baby products, clothing and household goods.
The Wag brand launched Wednesday with dry dog food and Amazon plans to expand the selection to include other pet supplies. The brand is available only to Amazon Prime subscribers, who pay monthly or annual fees in exchange for fast delivery as well as video and music streaming.
The move is a threat to Petco Animal Supplies Inc. and PetSmart Inc., which purchased Chewy.com last year for more than $3 billion, as well as big box retailers and supermarkets that sell pet supplies. Dog food is a difficult item to sell profitably online since it's heavy and expensive to ship.
U.S. pet owners will spend $72.1 billion on animals, care and supplies this year, with about $30 billion on pet food, according to the American Pet Products Association.
To contact the reporter on this story: Spencer Soper in Seattle at ssoper@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jillian Ward at jward56@bloomberg.net, Alistair Barr
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