Pet parents don’t browse aimlessly – they search with intent.
When a shopper searches by product, problem, or brand, they’re often just steps away from purchase. Whether they’re replenishing a staple, solving a specific pet care need, or comparing options, search is where decisions are actively being made.
Sponsored Products are a lower-funnel performance solution that places your products in front of high-intent Petbarn shoppers at the moment of search and comparison. With closed-loop reporting from impression → click → purchase, optimisation is driven by real sales outcomes, not proxy metrics.
This isn’t about shouting louder; it’s about being there when it counts.
What are Sponsored Products?
Sponsored Products are paid, SKU-level placements that promote individual products within onsite search results and category / browse pages on Petbarn.
They include:
- Onsite search results
- Category PLP, PDP and browse pages
- Widgets on the homepages, checkout and search bar
Designed to blend seamlessly into the shopping experience, Sponsored Products appear alongside organic listings while benefiting from enhanced visibility at key decision points.
From an IAB perspective, Sponsored Products are a core retail media format, sitting directly within the commerce environment and influencing outcomes where discovery, comparison, and conversion happen.
Optimised for relevance, discovery, and conversion, Sponsored Products help brands compete effectively in crowded categories without disrupting the customer journey.
Why the Moment of Search Matters
Search behaviour is one of the clearest indicators of purchase intent in digital retail.
Pet parents searching on Petbarn are often:
- Replenishing everyday essentials
- Solving a specific problem (such as allergies, anxiety, or ageing pet care)
- Comparing brands before making a decision
Sponsored Products intercept this moment before the choice is made, reducing the path to purchase and influencing outcomes earlier in the decision process.
Rather than relying solely on upper-funnel awareness to do all the work, search-based placements help brands capture existing demand and convert it at the point of decision.
How Sponsored Products Work
Sponsored Products appear across Petbarn’s digital shelf, ensuring brands are visible wherever shoppers are actively browsing and searching.
Placements are informed by onsite keywords, category context, first-party shopper behaviour signals (browsing, clicks, cart actions) and purchase patterns, with dynamic relevancy optimisation so the products served reflect current intent and context.
Built for relevance (and resilient performance): the system uses a mix of implicit signals (behaviour and purchase history), explicit signals (search queries and navigation), context (journey stage and seasonality), and product intelligence (co-browsing, purchase correlations, attribute similarity). If a SKU has limited signal, sensible fallback logic can serve best-selling, contextually relevant alternatives to help maintain performance.
Key Benefits for Pet Brands
Sponsored Products deliver more than visibility. They drive performance where it matters.
Key benefits include:
Increased Product Discovery
Appear at the top of relevant search and browse results, helping shoppers discover your products within competitive categories.
Stronger Conversion at the Digital Shelf
Reach pet parents at the point of decision, reducing the path to purchase and driving higher conversion from high-intent searches.
Incremental Sales Impact
Drive performance beyond organic visibility, delivering incremental outcomes — not just additional impressions.
Measurable Performance
Track impression → click → purchase and optimise to sales.
Support for Priority Moments
Support launches, hero SKUs, promotions, or seasonal peaks — or stay always on for consistent visibility.
Control Where it Matters Most
Maintain visibility during high-value search moments, ensuring relevance during everyday replenishment and comparison behaviour.
Why Should You Use Sponsored Product Ads?
Sponsored Product Ads are effective for brands at every stage:
Established brands
looking to protect share and defend key terms.
Challenger brands
aiming to drive trial and gain visibility.
New product launches
needing rapid discovery and consideration.
Because search behaviour is always on, Sponsored Products work best as an always-on strategy rather than a short-term campaign. Maintaining consistent presence ensures priority products remain visible during everyday replenishment, problem-solving and comparison moments – not just during promotional peaks.
When combined with broader upper- and mid-funnel activity across PetAds, Sponsored Products help capture demand created elsewhere and convert it at the point of decision.
Where This Fits in Your Media Mix
Sponsored Products sit at the conversion end of the retail media funnel, capturing high-intent demand created by upper- and mid-funnel activity. They work best as an always-on foundation, complemented by onsite display, brand pages, video formats such as PetBreak, social-first formats such as PetHacks and in-store media / POS that build awareness and consideration earlier in the journey.
Together, this approach ensures brands don’t just generate demand – they convert it at the digital shelf.
Measuring Success with Closed-Loop Reporting
With Sponsored Product Ads, performance doesn’t stop at clicks.
PetAds provides visibility across the full journey:
- Impression → click → purchase tracking
- SKU-level performance insights
- Clear ROI, not proxy metrics
- Learnings that can inform broader media and range strategy
This closed-loop approach allows brands to optimise activity in real time and invest with confidence.
Sponsored Products Aren’t Just Another Placement
They’re a performance lever activated at the most valuable moment in the shopper journey — when intent is high and decisions are imminent. When paired with PetAds’ full-funnel ecosystem, Sponsored Products help brands move beyond awareness and convert intent into impact.
