BOARD: PetSmart and DoorDash Pushing Risk Away

You probably know that PetSmart offers same day delivery via DoorDash (click here). 

In the BOARD model, you have an omnichannel-dominated brand (that's the "O") being pinched by three factors.

1. Lack of Store Traffic due to a decade of omnichannel mismanagement (the whole retail industry is guilty of this).
2. Even less Store Traffic due to COVID.
3. Business shifted into E-Commerce that is under attack by rising fees from UPS and FedEx.

One might surmise that it must be cheaper to deliver merchandise via DoorDash than to deliver it via UPS / FedEx ... and if that is the case, how little is DoorDash paying human beings to run their cars into the ground?

PetSmart pushes the risk of UPS / FedEx gouging to DoorDash.

DoorDash pushes the risk of expenses to the "gig worker" driving a 2006 Toyota Avalon.

Who does the "gig worker" push risk on to?

At some point, you as a Leader have to evaluate where your business is headed. 2021 is not going to be a normal year. Heck, 2022 might not be a normal year. You have to have a vision (likely to be incorrect) on where you think the future is headed, and then you have to invent the future yourself. You write solid Goals and Objectives for your team so they know where you are headed and how their bonus will be earned given your direction. That process ... writing of Goals and Objectives ... likely includes something about unloading the riskiness of your business on a third party ... that's the "B" part of BOARD (e-commerce in a box). In the case of PetSmart, a floundering "O" dominated business offsets UPS / FedEx risk by employing a "B" solution (DoorDash) to make store square footage usable.