Narayan AmmachchiOne of the leading pet retailers in North America, PetSmart, opened a new technology center in Costa Rica recently.
Located in the Heredia Free Trade Zone, PetSmart’s new facility will provide tech support to the company’s operations across the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico, where it operates 1,670 stores.
“The PetSmart Costa Rica team is a critical extension of our larger technology organization,” said Greg Fancher, Chief Information Technology Officer at PetSmart. “They will help to advance our ongoing investments in our technology infrastructure, propelling our digital transformation and allowing us to better serve our associates, pet parents, and the pets we care for.”
The decision to establish a presence in Costa Rica resulted from a multi-month engagement with Nearshore Americas Advisory, starting in September, 2023.
“It was critical from the outset to understand what Greg [Fancher] and his team were expecting to achieve by opening a Nearshore delivery center. While the other destinations under consideration demonstrated compelling value, what really stood out in Costa Rica was the country’s unbeatable track record,” said Kirk Laughlin, Founder and Chief Analyst at Nearshore Americas. “Costa Rica has shown a striking ability to re-capitalize and re-generate, meaning the services’ industry ‘soil’ remains rich and fertile.”
The facility will initially employ 22 people, but PetSmart plans to staff it over the following three years with 300 workers. The new hires will include data and quality control engineers, mobile application developers and SalesForce engineers.
A solid reputation
PetSmart’s choice solidifies Costa Rica’s position as a hub for foreign investment in Central America and one of the top service exporters in the region.
The country’s services exports reached US$4.3 billion in Q1-2024, a 16% increase relative to the first three months of 2023.
Business services and tech services represented nearly half of Costa Rica’s total services exports for the period, amounting to 35% and 13% of the whole, respectively, and positioning themselves as the second and third most dynamic sectors for services exports.
Marianela Urgellés, General Director of CINDE, Costa Rica’s investment promotion agency, welcomed PetSmart’s arrival, stating that it is a clear testament to the country’s proven expertise in knowledge-intensive and high-value operations.
PetSmart considered opening its tech center in other countries with larger populations. However, Costa Rica has for decades made a case of quality over quantity. The country’s population barely passes the 5 million mark, making it smaller than some cities in Latin America. Mexico City’s population, for example, is over 8 million. Bogota’s surpasses 7 million, and Lima’s is close to 10 million. And yet, some of the world’s top companies have shown preference for the small Central American country.
“We have found that investors can often become paralyzed by concerns about population, which obviously relates to scalability and questions of long-term viability,” Laughlin explained. “The thing about Costa Rica is the track record speaks for itself. This is a fully-integrated market and one that is built to absorb and flourish.”
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