Focus on: Business Strategies Twenty years of steady growth and smart acquisitions have propelled Doctors Foster & Smith to the top spot among pet-supply catalogers.

By Reported Donna Loyle

Today, DFS sells a wide variety of pet-related merchandise, including food, medications, grooming supplies, live fish, aquarium merchandise, pet treats, cages, leashes, dog beds, training aids, books, videos and much more. From a desire to supply value-priced, high-quality pet products to a mail-order business that enjoyed $156 million in sales in 2002, the path DFS has taken in the last 20 years may offer insights for other merchants who want to expand their operations while retaining the core business values that propelled them into the catalog industry in the first place.