Online Pet Trade

[LASS]

So im going to be starting a Dog Online Shop and was wondering do you think the market is saturated? Do you think there is room for a dog online shop? That sells top notch products at extremley low prices?

 

[DIY Accounting]

Always a market for every product.
Key to success is to optimise the webpages so they appear high in the search engine listings.
Always room at the top for the best

 

[LASS]

Thank you for your valuable words!

 

[deniser]

I was just thinking yesterday that the pet market must be one of the best to be in.

Whilst shopping in a Sainsbury superstore on Monday I had a quick look at the pet section and although there was a lot of dog and cat food there wasn't much else for pets especially rodents and other small animals. For hamsters there was only a small pack of sawdust, one type of food and one type of treat. I was quite surprised as they sell everything else but seem to have left the pet sector largely untouched.

When I go to my local petshop it is always heaving.

So I think there is a huge market for pet products and anything that is so much in demand must be saleable on the internet provided you can deliver it cost effectively and quickly. I think specialising in dogs is a great idea - I think the more specialised on the internet the better and if there was a site just selling hamster products I would use it (as it saves you the hassle of checking the products to see which rodents they are suitable for).

I run a very specialised clothes website and the biggest advantage is that it is easier to optimise because I only need to concentrate on one main keyword - yours would be "dog/s" of course.

So whilst there are a lot of general pet sites on the web, I don't know if there are any specifically aimed at dogs but if not, this would set you apart from the rest. Not knowing much about dogs I can't suggest but presumably there are different types of products for different types of dogs? So you can divide products into better categories than you could if it was a general pet site.

 

[bookyourselfsolid]

There are more than enough online pet stores. You can earn enough from another but a niche pet store is best. If you get on the 1st page of Google you will still be fighting other stores for the sale.

Cheap doesn't mean best. You will need more than just cheap prices to succeed as I am sure you are aware.

Remember that our target customer is usually used to reseaching the internet for there products and experience tells me the more you tell the more you sell.

You wil need a solid USP to enter this market. I used to own a site for Yorkshire Terrier owners. I wrote 3 books to give away to get the email addresses. I had a remote asistant write newsletters that were delivered monthly with my offers of products along with joint venture products.

I made so good money with this.

Ed

 

[DIY Accounting]

I was just thinking yesterday that the pet market must be one of the best to be in ........ I think there is a huge market for pet products

Without wishing to be too negative the pet trade retail market isn't a large market except sales of tinned dog and cat food which is dominated by the supermarkets at prices it is impossible for independent retailers to compete with.

While obviously there are some successful high street pet shops the majority face low volumes. competitive margins and often only last 3 or 4 years before going out of business.

Specialist internet based websites have a reasonable chance as niche markets can be developed within the national rather than local market and overhead costs can be kept to a minimum.

 

[deniser]

Without wishing to be too negative the pet trade retail market isn't a large market except sales of tinned dog and cat food which is dominated by the supermarkets at prices it is impossible for independent retailers to compete with.

While obviously there are some successful high street pet shops the majority face low volumes. competitive margins and often only last 3 or 4 years before going out of business.

Specialist internet based websites have a reasonable chance as niche markets can be developed within the national rather than local market and overhead costs can be kept to a minimum.

Oh that's sad to hear - it looks like a great business from a customer point of view - our pet shop always has long queues - but I know impressions can be misleading.

 

[LASS]

I would only sell dogs products because they are what i love. I may then move into other niche areas, cats,hamsters,fish,snakes etc

 

[Officebird]

I have Gerbils and have real problems getting them new and interesting toys to distruct. They really need wood toys rather than plastic but everything is dominated by the Hamsters

I just spent £120 on a super huge new Gerbilarium and have been searching online for Gerbil things but haven't found anything yet.

I hope you decide to do dogs AND gerbils

 

[fxj10cn]

dog.com - If this is what you are talking about?

 

[LASS]

I have Gerbils and have real problems getting them new and interesting toys to distruct. They really need wood toys rather than plastic but everything is dominated by the Hamsters

I just spent £120 on a super huge new Gerbilarium and have been searching online for Gerbil things but haven't found anything yet.

I hope you decide to do dogs AND gerbils

Ok well i have just rung the pet wholesaler with whom i will be buying my stock from and they said they sell everything. Hopefully im going on tuesday with a friend and im going to order some stuff from viking direct and all you need is two invoices or letters with your name and business name and that so hopefully i get my own card.

 

[deniser]

I have Gerbils and have real problems getting them new and interesting toys to distruct. They really need wood toys rather than plastic but everything is dominated by the Hamsters

I just spent £120 on a super huge new Gerbilarium and have been searching online for Gerbil things but haven't found anything yet.

I hope you decide to do dogs AND gerbils

Sorry to go off on a tangent but aren't hamster and gerbil toys the same? My hamster things are all wooden.

The Gerbilarium sounds great!

Maybe we should set up a rodent website! There is no website that sells all the makes so I have to shop from several different ones - it would be nice to have all the hamster/rodent products together on one site.

 

[LASS]

Wow dont steal my niche

 

[serendipitybusiness]

Do they still do those monster sets that you can keep building add-ons to? I always waned one them for my hamster when I was a kid, they look like soooooo much fun.

 

[logi.bear]

some of the free pet product mags may be of use Pet Product Marketing for example ?

 

[bear]

I am always after cheap science plan and Hills special Kidney diet food - the vets charge a fortune so if you could do better prices than them it would be good.

 

[murdoch]

source 1)
The Nations 12.5 million pet owners spent an estimated £ 4 billion on pet Supplies in 2006 according to the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council.


source 2)
Total retail value sales for pet food and pet care products in the UK approached £2.6 billion in 2006 per Euromonitor International's latest research. This represents growth of more than 5% from the previous year. Moreover, value sales growth is expected to accelerate to approach 6% during 2007, as driving market trends continue to hold sway.

okay I dont know which figure is right 2.6 or 4 Billion, but they are both pretty big and for sure its a fast growing industry.
Although as I have been in it for 8yrs Im pretty pessimistic for new comers unless they have something unique to offer.

 

[logi.bear]

Most of the trade mags Ive read recently dont quote anywhere near that kind of growth, and current growth is all in the premium pet food market (probably as a knock on effect of the branding "holistic" "all natural" etc as we all try to eat healthier we are coerced into thinking that applies to our pets too) - a lot of other areas are seeing marked declines as people tighten their belts...

Wish I could say its easy to make money in the pet trade... but it isnt in teh current market

 

[Orange22]

The key to launching any product/service online is to really iron out how you are going to market your site.

The key sources of traffic are:
Search engine optimisation
E-mail (both internal and external data)
Pay per click
Affiliate marketing
Viral
PR
Mobile
Recommend a friend.

You should look into each tactic and maybe seek professional help/guidence to really get the business off to a flying start.

 

[LASS]

Thank you everyone! I have now decided that Dog is a saturated market so therefore. I am focusing on a sector of animals where owners have somewhat of a hard time finding products for there pet.

 

[Bryony84]

The thing with animal products is knowing the market well. There are plenty of pet owner forums out there so it might be worth joining up to see what kind of products they would buy if they were available.

Another thing to consider if you are going into a niche of say small animals, consider what is best for the animal not what products you can get/sell at low prices. A huge problem with small animals is that many pet shops sell tiny cages that are not suitable for them along with ranges of toys, hamster wheels for example that are actually far too small or dangerous for the animal.

 

[LASS]

Ok, thanks

 

[solutions4finance]

If you're looking for suppliers you could try out Neat Pet Accessories based in Newton Abbot.... Anita sells some fantastic dog products to the trade, and from what I can gather she sweeps clean when it comes to competitive pricing. If you can't find a contact number then drop me an email and I'll have a bash for you.

Good luck

Justin

PS. I have two dogs with two more on the way... remember me when I ask for discount! ;-)

 

[deniser]

Thank you everyone! I have now decided that Dog is a saturated market so therefore. I am focusing on a sector of animals where owners have somewhat of a hard time finding products for there pet.

Well please let me know if you do set up a rodent based business.

Bryony is absolutely right - those tiny cages you see in pet shops are not suitable for animals. When you consider that hamsters run up to 20km at night in the wild in search of food, and see how lively these creatures actually are you can see that these cages are totally unsuitable.

I bought the biggest hamster cage I could find and it's still not very big considering the activity level of my hamster. And I had to get rid of the tiny house that came with the cage after 2 weeks as it wasn't big enough when he grew from baby size; now has has a much bigger wooden house which he loves.

If you could source products that are really good for the animal for the caring owner to buy that should set you apart from the rest.

 

[LASS]

I will be it's just a matter of when. I am thinking of doing some sort of custom order thing where by you can take photos of products and email me them and i will try to find if my wholesaler supplies them and if not find a wholesaler which does and purchase it an sell it for less than the other place.

 

[Bryony84]

Well please let me know if you do set up a rodent based business.

Bryony is absolutely right - those tiny cages you see in pet shops are not suitable for animals. When you consider that hamsters run up to 20km at night in the wild in search of food, and see how lively these creatures actually are you can see that these cages are totally unsuitable.

I bought the biggest hamster cage I could find and it's still not very big considering the activity level of my hamster. And I had to get rid of the tiny house that came with the cage after 2 weeks as it wasn't big enough when he grew from baby size; now has has a much bigger wooden house which he loves.

If you could source products that are really good for the animal for the caring owner to buy that should set you apart from the rest.

Absolutely what I was getting at. I couldn't find a cage I liked at all for our hamster, we have cats and I needed a fortress that didn't have bars and had enough room for her to run properly. In the end I bought a large really useful storage box and joined this with a wide plastic pipe to a habitat plastic cage which is now her bedroom (this was actually marketed as being big enough for a hamster to live in on its own which was shocking!) The top of the really useful box has a big hole cut in the top and my boyfriend secured some mesh with very small holes over it so it would let the air in.

Anyway, Lass - thats an interesting idea, but I'd be concerned about the amount of time all this would take - people are pretty impatient these days and I would be worryed about them going elsewhere before you had found the product. I'm also not sure that consumers would take to sending in photos of a product they want just for a small discount. Its good that you are thinking outside the box though.

 

[LASS]

Ok maybe not photos but a spec they want say e.g a cage bigger than a meter for example. Or bedding that is such and such a thing. An item which i would not normally stock but will try to find one that meets the criteria as the wholesaler im going to be using allows you to buy only one of a product.

 

[Steve Roberts]

So im going to be starting a Dog Online Shop and was wondering do you think the market is saturated? Do you think there is room for a dog online shop? That sells top notch products at extremley low prices?

Bad idea - dogs can't use computers. ;-)

 

[AndyBlack]

Even if your online store is mainly focused on dog products and even maybe has the word 'dog' in the domain main, it would be wise to have a 'Other pets' section. This could be the minority of the site, but remember... people who own a dog, may also have hamsters, gerbils, fish etc etc It may be easy for them to utilise the 'joint' P&P costs and order a few items. This is called cross-selling.

The more products you sell, the higher the sale to visitor conversion will be on your site, as you are more likely to have something that someone would want.

Also, definately do your research in all the major stores, like it sounds you have done, or are doing. See what types of items they are not stocking and target them. With supermarkets, if they are not selling something, it is for a reason. There dedicated shelving space may be better something else, but that creates a niche for other people. Find those niches / products and target them.

Small and light items are best for online as you have to ensure that it is worth while people paying the P&P. Offer incentives, and maybe offer a monthly prize draw for ALL your monthly newsletter readers, and then add a newsletter sign up to your site.

The utmost important factor is SEO. If you don't rank well in the likes of Google, then you will have no online business. Forget PPC campaigns such as adwords if your products are low cost. Target organic listings, and deep link to all your inner pages and products.

Good luck!

Andy

 

[LASS]

Im not doing dogs anymore im doing small animals, but im going to have a dog and cat section with a few beds,toys,leads and collars.

 

[Orange22]

Have you tried looking into reptiles? I know the recent show on BBC1 had a massive effect on the market with more people buying them than ever before...

 

[LASS]

It's funny you say that, I was actually thinking of this last night. I have a friend whos an expert in reptiles.

 

[neilsdeals2008]

Hi.

I have been thinking of different ideas on what to retail when i set up my own online business and i have recently thought about selling reptile accessories as my brother has an interest in lizards and snakes and owns a leopard gekko, but agian i have yet to find any suppliers in this area, and don`t know what the wholesale pricing would be in percentage, i have contacted Hagen Group UK Ltd who make Exo Terra products but have had no reply.

But i don`t know if the pet trade is a good one to be in.

 

[astoller]

There are a few resources on the web that will let you see the size of the market before you decide to take it on.
You can also form an assessment of the competition.

Internet marketing telephone seminars