* Globe and Mail, June 2009 (click to download full doc)
| Extract... Finally, we have Pupperware parties. At these affairs, 10 to 20 pet owners get together, swap tales, have a little wine and listen to a Pupperware "consultant" try to sell them gourmet cat kibble, doggie couture and parrot grooming products. The consultant gets a cut of the sales, the hostess usually gets a product discount and everyone has a good time - except maybe for the pets forced to model their newly purchased clothing. The two giants of the pet product direct home sales industry are Shure Pets, a Chicago-based company founded in 2002, and Petlane, a Concord, Calif.-based company founded in 2003, both of which have hundreds of sales consultants across the United States. Neither one conducts business in Canada, but entrepreneur and animal-lover Emma Cox has set out to fill that tragic party gap. She started Party Pets a year ago from her home in Nelson, B.C..... |