Cognizant Helps PetSmart Gain Deeper Insight into Customers and their Pets to Improve Brand and Shopping Experience

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Jul 26, 2016, 06:00 ET

TEANECK, N.J., July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) today announced that it has been selected by PetSmart, Inc., the largest specialty pet retailer in North America, to help it gain deeper customer insight and provide an improved omni-channel brand and shopping experience across its brick and mortar, online and mobile sales channels.

PetSmart's Customer Data Foundation (CDF) initiative will utilize master and analytics-driven demographic, behavioral, interactional and transactional data to create custom profiles of pets and "pet parents" who visit PetSmart at its stores, online and through its mobile app. This digital initiative centers on building an integrated, single view of customers and their pets to enhance PetSmart's ability to provide its customers more consistent and relevant products and services, an improved brand experience and more personalized communications and engagement.

Using Cognizant's MDM-in-a-box™ solution with pre-built, industry-specific data models and other features, Cognizant will empower PetSmart with better decision making by integrating operational store, campaign and other data to provide a single view of the entire data landscape. These insights will help PetSmart enhance customer experience across a range of areas, including product and service innovation, store design, as well as customer communications, engagement and loyalty. Over the longer term, PetSmart expects to provide more of this information directly to in-store associates to enhance customer interactions, while also enabling a digital ecosystem focused on pets and their well-being.

"Our work with Cognizant is key to PetSmart's strategy to become a more customer-focused and data-driven enterprise. We want to improve our pet parents' brand and shopping experience with us across any channel they choose, including newer digital channels that are becoming the first choice for customers today," said Brent Cooke, Vice President, CRM, Consumer Insights and Loyalty at PetSmart. "By investing in innovative core technology, we are able to better listen to, and gain a more comprehensive understanding of our pet parents and their pets to expertly serve their needs and provide the convenience they seek."

"PetSmart's customers are drawn from a variety of sources, and with varying buying patterns, making it challenging to have a complete view of the diverse needs and desires of its customers," said Karthik Krishnamurthy, Global Head of Cognizant's Analytics and Information Management practice. "PetSmart is transforming its business by building out digital and analytics capabilities that enable customers to enjoy a superior omni-channel experience. Our MDM-in-a-box solution will allow PetSmart to rapidly and easily connect the data points within the network of products and services and buying channels. It is also their objective to create the first CDF program in the retail industry that provides a comprehensive view of pets to offer another level of depth to PetSmart's understanding of its target consumers."

About PetSmart^®PetSmart, Inc. is the largest specialty pet retailer of services and solutions for the lifetime needs of pets. At PetSmart, we love pets, and we believe pets make us better people. Every day with every connection, PetSmart's passionate associates help bring pet parents closer to their pets so they can live more fulfilled lives. This mission impacts everything we do for our customers, the way we support our associates, and how we give back to our communities. We employ approximately 53,000 associates, operate 1,466 pet stores in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico and 203 in-store PetSmart® PetsHotel® dog and cat boarding facilities. PetSmart provides a broad range of competitively priced pet food and pet products and offers dog training, pet grooming, pet boarding, PetSmart Doggie Day Camp day care services and pet adoption services in-store. Our portfolio of digital resources for pet parents – including PetSmart.com, PetFoodDirect.com, Pet360.com and petMD.com – offers the most comprehensive online pet supplies and pet care information in the U.S. Through our in-store pet adoption partnership with independent nonprofit organizations, PetSmart Charities® and PetSmart Charities™ of Canada, PetSmart helps to save the lives of more than 500,000 homeless pets each year. In addition, PetSmart supports organizations that make communities a better place to call home through our philanthropy program, PetSmart Gives Back™. By giving back to the communities where we live and work, PetSmart not only celebrates the power of pets to enrich people's lives—we live it.

Follow PetSmart on Twitter: @PetSmart
Find PetSmart on Facebook: www.facebook.com/PetSmart
See PetSmart on YouTube: www.YouTube.com/PetSmart

About Cognizant
Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) is a leading provider of information technology, consulting, and business process services, dedicated to helping the world's leading companies build stronger businesses. Headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey (U.S.), Cognizant combines a passion for client satisfaction, technology innovation, deep industry and business process expertise, and a global, collaborative workforce that embodies the future of work. With over 100 development and delivery centers worldwide and approximately 233,000 employees as of March 31, 2016, Cognizant is a member of the NASDAQ-100, the S&P 500, the Forbes Global 2000, and the Fortune 500 and is ranked among the top performing and fastest growing companies in the world. Visit us online at www.cognizant.com or follow us on Twitter: Cognizant.

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