Last Friday, retail blog, RetailWire presented a story on the meteoric rise of online pet food and treat sales in general, and Chewy.com in particular. The blog quoted a source saying total online sales in the category have risen by 121% since 2015.

Chewy is getting a fair amount of this business, having grown from $26 million in annual revenue in its first year (2012), to an expected $2 billion this year. That is one serious growth trajectory! And I think I understand why.

Overall, there’s no doubt that the pet care business is hot as a pistol. In fact, when thinking of all the extant national category killers, pet food and care emerges as one of the only segments that supports two major players (Petco and PetSmart), while most other verticals selling things like books, sporting goods, and consumer electronics have found themselves reduced to one giant category killer, with some regional players as competitors.

Sure, I’m a retail technology analyst, but as the caretaker of three cats, I can speak with more than a little personal experience on this subject.

I moved from buying pet food in stores to buying online for only one reason. My cats only eat three flavors of Fancy Feast, they eat a lot of it, and so I buy it by the case. In the past, every week or two I’d go to one of the Superstores to buy a couple of cases, but invariably they were out of stock in between one and two of the three varieties. This was frustrating, and I’d find myself going to multiple stores to keep the in-house shelves stocked.

I spoke with the manager at one store and said “I promise, I buy these regularly…please stock them for me. ” He said he would, but it never happened. So, I followed my usual behavior pattern and started buying the food from Amazon.com, which is never out of stock. However, even though the food would come on time, I kept experiencing the inverse of Amazon’s “empty shipping boxes ” problem. Pet food is likely fulfilled out of one regional distribution center, because the company would pack the boxes solid with cases of cat food.

Because of the way cat food is packaged (see photo below), it’s easy for the top row of cans to get dented. They’re made of pretty soft metal. Over the course of six months or so, I found I was throwing away a LOT of cat food. Just putting a sticker “Heavy box ” on the outer carton at the distribution center just doesn’t do the trick.

By accident (I think Amazon stopped including one of the three flavors on “subscribe and save “), I found myself on Chewy.com. I ordered a few cases and when they arrived, I was completely delighted to discover they’d come up with an “over-carton ” that basically covers the unprotected top layer of cans with the cardboard that is otherwise on a “real ” case.

Four months along, I have had zero problems with dented cans. I think at some point, Amazon started covering some of their cases with bubble wrap, but that was a real pain in the neck to take off. Plus, they were inconsistent. Some cases were wrapped, some were not. And those that were not still had a lot of dented cans.

The Chewy carton cover (I don’t know what else to call it), is made out of corrugated, so it just comes right off. No adhesive is used, and the covers are easily recycled.

Prices are comparable, or close enough for my purposes (as I write this, a case of “turkey and giblets ” costs $13.68 on Amazon vs. $14.40 on Chewy. That’s three cents a can, and I’m saving more than that on non-dented cans). While the RetailWire article claims Chewy orders arrive in two days, I think the reality is just a little longer – more like three. But I never let myself completely run out anyway.

These are the small things that make big differences to neurotic and not-so-neurotic pet caretakers like me. In what I thought was an exquisite irony, I stopped by my vet’s office to pick up some medicine for one of the cats, and saw a large Chewy.com carton on the floor, just like mine. Even the local vet likes the price and the service! I’m sure he gets a discount.

So yes the segment is hot. And yes, there’s money to be made. But there are subtle and small ways to really delight the customer. Chewy has found a simple and effective way to delight me, and I suspect it’s a money-saver as well. Less lazy folks than I would likely return those dented cans. Chewy doesn’t have that problem.

Are you missing out on something simple that might delight your customer and create more loyalty? Sometimes it’s the little things that matter most. And that’s how I came to love Chewy.com.