Picture a pet brand with 40 products on a container out of Ningbo. The vessel is running 10 days late, and Black Friday is close. Three best-sellers, a dental chew, a calming supplement and a treat-dispensing camera, will sell out before the ship arrives. The other 37 have enough stock to wait.

Flying the whole container would wipe out the season’s margin. Flying nothing leaves empty listings on the biggest shopping weekend of the year. The better answer sits in between: fly a slice of those three products, just enough to cover the gap, and leave everything else on the water.

That’s selective air freight for pet products. Below is the five-step process GLC uses with pet supply brands to decide what flies, how much of it, and how it arrives ready to sell.

Why a Stockout Costs Pet Brands More Than One Sale

Pet supplies now sell mostly online, where a shopper can switch brands in one click.

• The shelf is digital. NielsenIQ data shows 62% of pet supply sales now happen online, and online sales grew 17.4% over the past year. Amazon alone holds 21.4% of U.S. pet sales.
• Shoppers don’t wait. In a June 2026 DOSS survey, 82% of U.S. consumers said they would try a competitor if their usual product is often out of stock, and 62% have already switched brands because of a stockout.
• Amazon charges for running thin. Since January 2026, Amazon’s low-inventory-level fee is calculated for each product variation separately, so one sold-out size or flavor can trigger it.
• Holiday demand is rising. The National Retail Federation expects November–December retail sales to grow 4.2% over last year.

For a pet brand, a stockout can cost the sale today and the repeat customer tomorrow, especially on treats, supplements and other products people reorder.

Why This Peak Season Is Hard to Plan

Ocean schedules are the main problem.

• According to Sea-Intelligence, global schedule reliability fell to 49.9% in August, the lowest level since September 2022. Late vessels arrived an average of 6.81 days behind schedule.
• Typhoons hit China’s largest ports hardest. In August, only 12.2% of vessels at Shanghai and 16.9% at Ningbo arrived on time, Sea-Intelligence reported.
• Demand is holding firm. In Drewry’s World Container Index for October 15, Shanghai–Los Angeles rates rose 3% week over week, supported by strong U.S. import demand.

Air is faster, but not cheap.

• TAC Index data shows global air freight rates dipped 2.1% in the week to October 12 during China’s Golden Week holiday, but they remain 24.3% higher than a year ago, and market sources expect increases as peak season builds.
• The gap between the two modes has narrowed. Drewry estimates air cost 6.2 times as much as ocean in September, down from 12.9 times in April.

A narrower gap makes air more workable for the right products. It doesn’t make flying a full container a good idea. Our article Ocean Space Too Tight? How to Decide What Moves by Air This Q4 covers the general framework. This guide applies it to pet SKUs.

How GLC Helps Pet Brands Decide What Flies: 5 Steps

Step 1: Rank Your SKUs by What a Stockout Would Cost

Not every SKU deserves air. Start with the products where running out hurts most:

• Best-sellers with the fewest days of stock left
• Subscription and autoship items, where a missed delivery can cost a recurring customer
• Products tied to a holiday promotion or a retailer commitment
• Fast-growing items. NielsenIQ reports sales of electronic toys up 27% and treat-dispensing cameras up 32% over the past year.

Everything else, including slow movers, seasonal extras and safety stock, stays on the water.

How GLC helps: Our team reviews your inventory and sales with you, using real-time WMS visibility for stock in our warehouses. Our supply chain consulting team can also help you set clear rules for which SKUs qualify for air before the next delay hits.

Step 2: Find the Real Gap

The gap is the number of days between the date a SKU runs out and the date the ocean stock can actually be sold. That is not the vessel’s arrival date. Add time for port congestion, customs clearance, drayage, warehouse receiving and, if you sell on Amazon, fulfillment center check-in.

How GLC helps: We track your container’s milestones in the Customer Webtracker and GLC’s new client portal, and our ocean freight team flags delays early, so you plan with real dates, not the original schedule.

Step 3: Fly Only the Bridge Quantity

The bridge quantity is the number of units that covers the gap, plus a small buffer. The math is simple:

• Gap = the date your ocean stock can be sold − the date the SKU runs out
• Days to cover = gap + buffer days
• Bridge quantity = days to cover × units sold per day

Here’s an illustrative example:

• A chew toy sells 150 units a day.
• Current stock runs out on November 20, a week before Black Friday.
• The delayed container is now due at the port on December 2. After customs clearance, trucking, receiving and Amazon check-in, the stock is sellable around December 9.
• That’s a 19-day gap. Add a 3-day buffer for further delays, and you need to cover 22 days.
• Bridge quantity: 22 days × 150 units = 3,300 units.

Those 3,300 units fly. The rest of the order stays on the ship and refills your stock when it arrives.

Try it with your own numbers. Enter one SKU in the calculator to see how many units to fly. Use your expected daily sales for peak season, not your usual average, and make sure the air shipment can land before your stockout date.