Sometimes it's politics, sometimes it's a power trip and sometimes it's simply a commercial decision. Since our inception, we've never done advertorial, always kept our editorial ethical and we've not bowed down to the major powers of the pet industry as they've either tried to influence editorial or advertising. You can't please everybody.

Many of our loyal readers were perplexed and disappointed when they went to their local Pet Barn store in December to find no copies of Urban Animal. Though we have been in Pet Barn stores since we first came out over four years ago, the company has become increasingly aggressive, not only towards us but also its other suppliers, in pursuit of profit and control. But that's business.

Though we had a confrontation with owners and executives, we love the front line staff that we've had the pleasure to deal with at store level across the Sydney region. They've been like evangelists for our magazine and were mostly devastated to find out that upper management decreed that all copies of the magazine were to be removed and not given away any longer. Then again, we've noticed that a lot of those passionate pet people have been leaving anyway.

It's an amusing story, so we thought we'd share.

The tale as to why this happened may be interesting and amusing to some, but to consumers it may be disturbing because it reveals a lot more about the Pet Barn company's strategies and policies than the feel-good image they portray. Because we deal with a number of their current, potential and former suppliers and have a great relationship with many of their staff, we kinda know what's happening in the background. We fully expected at some point to be pulled from the Barns in NSW, since they've become more like the Coles and Woolies of pet stores with the same sort of stocking demands, discount mandates and product placement tactics that epitomise corporate supermarket chains.

It started about a year ago with a cryptic email from Paul Wilson, the MD, which stated,

"Phil, please call Melissa at my office to make an appointment to meet with myself about the future distribution of your rag through Petbarn stores. It's great to see how well you are doing and how much we and other retailers are doing for you.

Its time we have a look at what you do for us."

I thought it was kind of funny because it was sent on a Sunday night after 9 pm. I laughed off his reference to Urban Animal being a rag, him probably having missed the M key. So I sent him a reply and told him simply that what we did for Pet Barn was what we do for all our outlets.

We promote responsible pet companionship and expose a wide audience of pet lovers to new products and services, informing them of issues that help in the care and feeding as well as longevity of their pets. We drive a lot of traffic to stores with 40,000 copies through our 400 outlets (of which Pet Barn comprised maybe 15), simply by the mass of people who want to get the latest issue, and who usually buy something in the process. We also had all their stores on our online list of outlets, by suburb, and when called by people looking to get a free copy, we direct them to the closest outlets in their suburbs, not just the biggest.

Of course, Pet Barn's view was somewhat different--that they offered value to us by being a distributor of our free magazine. We were even given the opportunity to give them a free full-page in the magazine as a reward for their usefulness, a $3000 favour we elected not to grant as a bribe. We didn't think it would be ethical to offer Pet Barn an unfair advantage over their competition, be they the large chains or smaller stores. Besides, we'd feel kinda dirty if we did that, and frankly, we didn't really need Pet Barn that badly.

We also let them know that it would be a lot easier to shift the copies we give them to the Big W stores with pet areas that already exhaust the thousands of copies they go through. Though we have loved dealing with the Pet Barn staff, especially the ones in Alexandria close to us, there are a lot of other pet businesses who want to be our outlets or who want more. And many more outlets that run out and could use more.

Besides, I suggested he speak to the managers of their stores and ask them what they thought. Does the magazine bring people in repeatedly? Do the staff like it? Do the customers adore it? Is it more worth having it there than not? Do people call and come in specifically for Urban Animal?

We don't know what happened but Urban Animal remained happily distributed by them for about another six months. Until a couple of months ago when their marketing person, Tanya Houghton, raised a concern with us that an ad in the magazine from an online competitor in another state had prices in it. It was one of 80 ads, but it had specific prices on flea treatments, worming tablets and tick medications from an Internet-based company. And horror of horrors, they were cheaper than the Barns!!

Tanya said that if we were going to have ads with prices, they would reconsider taking our magazines. I told her I understood and respected her wishes if Pet Barn was concerned, but if she didn't want to take the next issue (November 15) she should let us know then or by November 1 at the latest. When she suggested she wanted to see the next issue before making her decision, I assured her that we would not abridge the rights of advertisers to state prices or specials and suggested that if she was afraid it would happen again it would be best to cut the tie now. Besides, we weren't going to hold up our courier deliveries all over town waiting for their decision after seeing it and we didn't want to waste the time and money delivering copies if we would just have to pick them up again.

So, on November 1 she gave us the green light to deliver and we did, starting November 15. The copies started shooting out of their stores and our other outlets quickly and when we checked back a fortnight later, a few outlets were already on their way to running out.

So we were surprised to get the call December 8 from Tanya that the Executive Committee had decided to have the copies removed and held for us to pick them up. Pet Barn no longer wanted Urban Animal to be in their stores. She said that it was not only the Vet & Pet Direct ad that bothered them with lower prices, there were also other pet stores advertising. And it was not fair that Internet stores with no bricks and mortar presence had an advantage over them.

I found this odd since Pet Barn has their own online store that states:

"How does Petbarn Online keep their prices so low?

A. By operating online with no actual store to maintain we can keep our costs to a minimum. We have also negotiated discounts with our wholesalers because of the large quantities we sell."

Yes, it is true that as a huge chain they can negotiate lower prices and do special deals that smaller independent stores can't. This is what some of their suppliers complain about--that Pet Barn drives down the price they buy at as hard as Woolies or Coles and still doesn't pass on the savings to the consumer. For many great smaller products, they can't afford to sell at low margins and only deliver on an as-needed basis, which rockets up freight costs.

There are other brands that just won't sell through Pet Barn because they can't get a good position on the shelves without having to pay a premium. Part of that reason was supposedly due to Pet Barn giving preferential positioning to one supplier's products--about 1800 line items--in exchange for the distributor refurbishing the stores, racking and displays.

And though they may decry the Internet and competition, it's a funny thing to look at how pricing works online and offline.

For example, we went to their online store, picked an item off the front page which was Advantage Cat Large Purple 6PK that showed a price of $51.99 crossed through and a price of $46.79 online. We called a couple of Pet Barn stores, asked the price and were quoted $52. When we said that Pet Barn online had it for $46.79, we were told there must be a mistake.

We've been through this before but in another industry that had to cope with the new world of products being sold online versus solely in retail. The major distributors and retail chains of that industry went into denial, some colluded on pricing and supply and in the end it's been a decade and a half of chaos.

The pet industry is eerily similar to the music industry--which is all about entertainment too, shifting SKU units in stores in malls, or outlets trying to get top dollar. We see what the pet business is encountering now is what the music industry went through about 15 years ago. In the end, the consumer might win, but it will be hard fought and there will be casualties along the way.

Coming from the music industry as a publisher, we saw that happen with Brashs which tried to take over the industry in the '80s only to go bankrupt twice before going under, having taken a lot of small specialist stores with them.

We then saw the same thing happen with Sanity, HMV, Virgin and other chains merging, crushing competition and then dominating the industry until they too got in trouble. A second wave of small retailers floundered. Free media were told that if they didn't give free ads to the big boys, their magazines would not be in their stores. Sound familiar? The lawyers were called next if anyone dared object publicly.

So as you can see, we were already familiar with the sort of bullying tactics and backhanders that were historic in the music business a decade ago and had already elected from day one not to engage in those unethical practices in the pet industry. We've prevailed and kept our ethics intact.

We had the task recently of contacting the stores to arrange to have the copies remaining shipped back to us. One store that had received 600 copies had already run out. That manager was very unhappy with head office's decision which was mirrored by other Pet Barn employees who couldn't see the sense in the decision. One store manager told us they were instructed to dump the magazines, which they did. Of course head office said that wasn't true.

The good news is that not only have we had a number of Pet Barn staff subscribe so they can be on top of things and get the latest issues faster than they hit the stores, we've also found a whole new range of new outlets. For example, the mail order company whose ad was in contention now ships their orders with a free copy of Urban Animal as a bonus. We've also expanded our distribution to a new crop of doggie day-care centres and pet resorts.

We took the rest of the magazines in Pet Barn stores and transferred them to other outlets, like Pet-O in Brookvale which needed several hundred extras for a major Christmas party they were having on the weekend in conjunction with Hills Science Diet. It was not a problem and they roared through a thousand all up. We also had 1500 copies distributed at the Melbourne Pet Expo by three of our advertisers who had stands there and loved the idea of a giveaway for their showbags. And we're also being given out at puppy preschools, training sessions and other places.

So you see, in an ironic way Pet Barn has given us a new opportunity and challenge at the same time they've lost a valuable asset and a friendship. All in the name of the dollar...

It's sad that Pet Barn, which was once a leading chain, has elected to deny their customers a resource which other more caring and competitive retailers don't see as a threat to their business. For example, we're in many of the Petstock stores, which have their own magazine, because their upper management see what we do as making people more aware, not as a threat. Same with many Pets Paradise stores, though a couple of franchise outlets elect not to carry it because of perceived competition.

Although Pet Barn's Executive Committee may have removed us from their stores, I think they'll see that those people who used to come and pick up a copy, often before the new one came out, will be getting it elsewhere. And they may not have thought of it, but I believe a lot of consumers will vote with their feet and their wallets when they discover, as one Pet Barn manager put it, "That the company has put the dollar first before the customer."

So if you need to find an outlet nearby where your former Pet Barn outlet was, feel free to consult our list of outlets by suburb, street address and phone number to pick up your copies there on our website--www.urbananimal.com. You can also call our office on (02) 9557 7766 and we can tell you where to go.

If you would like to tell Pet Barn where to go, you can always get in touch with head office on (02) 8595 3333 or email info@petbarn.com.au and I'm sure they'd love to hear your opinion. So would we...