 Seriously though, how did the first Amazon of pet food fail so badly when it was obviously a great idea? Pets.com's whole thing was shipping pet supplies directly to your door. And they spent a lot of money getting the word out. Like Super Bowl commercial, Float and Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade money. But it was 1998 and people couldn't see why that was better than just going to the store. Also, they promised free shipping on heavy items like dog food, but that's expensive. They ended up losing over $300 million before going bankrupt less than two years later. But today 86% of people buy pet supplies online, so pets.com knew where the market was going. We just weren't there yet.