Around 2011, somebody decided to sell pet food on the internet.
This was, by any sensible analysis, a terrible idea.
Pet food is heavy. A forty pound bag of dog food costs more to ship than the profit on selling it. The margins are thin because it is a commodity. The category had already killed several online companies during the first internet boom, spectacularly.
And the largest retailer in the world was already selling it, with better logistics than anyone.
Every rational person would have said no.
It became one of the most successful online retailers in America, and it did it with a tactic so old-fashioned that it sounds made up.
Handwritten cards. Actual handwriting, on actual paper, in the mail.
This story is better than you expect. Come on.