Help with market research (pet shop)

[Sookiesue]

Hope it’s ok to post here. Can’t find anything that says it’s disallowed

I’m looking to open a dog-specific pet shop in our local town but I’d like to gather as much info as possible. If anyone could see to answering any of the questions I’d be forever grateful (and you’d be helping to provide a future for me and my two hounds!)

1. If you could shop locally for your dog products (rather than say, pets at home) would you and why? What if it was slightly more expensive?
2. What would you like to see sold in the shop?
3. Would you consider using the shop if it also offered a grooming or daycare service?
4. Would you be interested in paying a little more for quality brands and/or eco ethical products?

Any other pointers would be massively appreciated! Thank you x

If you could shop locally for your dog products (rather than say, pets at home) would you and why? What if it was slightly more expensive?

I would but it would need to be open late at least 1 evening a week. If its slightly more expensive (50p- £1) then thats ok but I'd be reluctant to pay a few £s more as I already find pets at home to be expensive.

What would you like to see sold in the shop?

Decent quality brands. Most dog product shops sell cheap poor quality stuff. I want to see good brands that will last years not poor cheap alternatives I need to replace frequently.

Mail order food such as Millies Wolfheart would be useful to have in a shop. I ran out of food at Christmas and their delivery company have lost 3 large bags and I'm yet to be refunded over £100 because Millies policy is to only refund once dpd have confirmed my dog food is lost and its still showing as 'in transit'. If I could get this product 8n a shop I would.

Would you consider using the shop if it also offered a grooming or daycare service?

I wouldn't use this myself.

Would you be interested in paying a little more for quality brands and/or eco ethical products?

Not more than they charge on their own website no. Ruff-wear I have seen online for £18 a collar but the exact same product on their website is £15. I understand needing to make money but I don't want to feel I am being ripped off.

My very small town has two independent pet shops which seem to do well.
Both, crucially, have very good parking access and both will wheel your stuff to the car and put it in there - very popular with the older people.

What gets me to go in is that they have a brilliant range of treats, food and accessories and are super helpful. The dogs like going in as there is always a biscuit on offer, and its handy to be able to buy a very small bag (one breaks down bulk into bins so you can get a scoop of things) of something if you want to try it. They'll always get something in if you ask and they don't have it, and have all sorts of bits that PAH don't have and it would be a pain to order.
I wouldn't be interested in clipping or daycare, but pop in nail clipping would be fab

1. No, actually I tend to buy all my dog products online where they are cheaper and get delivered next day. I do occasionally buy from physical pet stores but only when I am in town and killing time so tend to venture in them and buy a little 'something'.

1. Nothing especially given my answer to number 1

1. Possibly but only if I was looking for another groomer or daycare as I wouldn't change what I had just because it was in a pet shop.

1. Yes for quality brands, no for eco ethical products honestly I never choose based on that

Actually for question 4, for quality brands I would still expect to pay the same as online but will pay more than cheaper brands.

Whilst I know shops have to charge more as they have more overheads I can't see any usp for a physical pet store given the convenience and choice online.

1: no most of the dog stuff I buy I buy online , I feed Millie’s which most shops can’t stock and Natures Menu which shops can’t compete with the online prices as there is generally a 10-15% off code to be had . Harnesses / house collars I’ve had made to measure and doing that via a shop would just make it even more expensive
2: I just don’t think a shop can compete with the internet
3: grooming would be attractive to some people ,personally I already have a groomer that I use and I wouldn’t swap for a better price / location as my dog is happy where he goes .
4: I am happy to pay more for the products I want for my dog but most of it is made to measure stuff and I wouldn’t pay even more for it being done through a third party IYSWIM .

1. If you could shop locally for your dog products (rather than say, pets at home) would you and why? What if it was slightly more expensive?

As a keeper of small furries in addition to PestDog, I avoid Pets at Home like the plague (except the odd moment of desperation) because of the way they promote piss poor care of small furries (tiny cages, wheels so small they cause spinal damage etc etc). Sadly my local pet shop is even worse, so I do almost all my pet shopping online.

The local dog specific shop is expensive and sparsely stocked ("boutique" I think they call it) mainly with things I don't buy so it's an emergency pit stop only.

I do, however, love the very non local Mutty Professor in Bristol, which is everything a dog shop should be

Also, the shop would need to be open when I get home from work and have had time to pick up PestDog and walk to the shops, so realistically I'd like it open until 7.30/8pm. And I don't carry cash, so it needs to take cards with no minimum spend.

1. What would you like to see sold in the shop?

Enrichment toys - favourite brands are Kong and ChuckIt, but I was very happy to see some of the favorites from the Canine Enrichment Facebook group in the Mutty Professor, such as snuffle mats.

The other thing I love about it is that they have a very meaty pick and mix, where you can buy one cow's ear, one trachea, one lump of dried liver etc rather than having to commit to a whole bag of the things without knowing if the dog will like it. And you can let the dog sniff before you buy to gauge interest.

On the subject of food - top quality stuff like Acana. If I see something like Pedigree on sale I'm going to be very sceptical of a shop's dog knowledge or commitment to nutrition. It would also be great if I could find some raw meaty bones in a freezer to take home.

1. Would you consider using the shop if it also offered a grooming or daycare service?

I've no interest in grooming and don't use day care, so no. I do periodically have to use overnight home boarding for business trips so that may be of interest.

Grooming does appear to be one of those things that makes people utterly furious and quite vocally so when it goes wrong or isn't to their taste, so I'd worry about the impact on overall reputation when that does happen.

1. Would you be interested in paying a little more for quality brands and/or eco ethical products?

I already do, within reason. I'm looking primarily for good value for money, not necessarily the cheapest thing going. For context, I use a mixture of Markus Mühle NaturNah dog food and Treats 2 Sit 4 training treats

One other thing - a main reason why I buy dog food online is because it's heavy and I don't drive (London, so few have a car), and hauling 10kg of it back to my flat is zero fun. So, consider offering free local delivery for heavy items (I'm in my 20s, but I'm sure it would also be popular with old people if they could phone you up and have you come around with the heavy stuff)

Thanks everyone, some fantastic advice and answers to get me thinking.

I’m aware that online shopping, is a massive factor, I am however lucky to live in a town where local shopping is heavily supported, and there are plenty of tourists too!

Just to clarify, with the last question I didn’t mean I would charge more, I just meant would you in theory pay a little more to feed quality dog food than buying supermarket brands for example

In terms of food to your last post I get mine online for two reasons. The first because no shops stock it here and the second because I buy in bulk as its cheaper so even if someone stocked it I doubt it would be cheaper than direct.

I’m not sure a dog forum is the place to ask the question about paying more for better quality food as most people who are interested enough in their dog to be on a forum dedicated to them would not be feeding cheap dog food .

I would be cautious OP of opening a high steeet shop. I know you said it's supported but high street shopping seems to be going one way and if you are dependant on tourists then external things such as weather and seasons need to be taken into account when you are looking at possible profits.

@floralnomad point taken!

Any other pointers

1. Yes I would shop locally, if it was either walking distance from my house, or decent parking.
2. Things that are hard to buy online, ie dog coats/harnesses etc - my 2nd dog is an odd shape so needs to try everything on before buying 😂
3. I wouldn't use day care, but a groomers yes, if the price was right.
4. No.

I would really like a local pet shop that I could visit with my dogs, where the owners/employees would remember my dogs (and their names), make a fuss of them and my dogs would look forward to going there.. which probably sounds a bit corny!

I buy a lot on-line or in bulk stores.
If it was local to me, good value, and had parking, I would be interested.

Can't see why you would do dog only, we have dog, cat, rabbit and chickens, so you're missing a market by restricting to dog.

Not interested in expensive brands.

Not interested in grooming.

If you could shop locally for your dog products (rather than say, pets at home) would you and why? What if it was slightly more expensive?

Yes - I don't drive so would be more likely to use a shop I could walk to. I would judge prices on their own merit rather than shopping round unless it was a major purchase.

1. What would you like to see sold in the shop?

Good range of dog accessories, pet-specific cleaning products, good quality collars and harnesses - particularly collars that were different from the same old tat you see everywhere! Good quality name tags with while-you-wait engraving would be a plus. Anything you need to try for size first.

1. Would you consider using the shop if it also offered a grooming or daycare service?

No - we groom him ourselves and don't need daycare.

1. Would you be interested in paying a little more for quality brands and/or eco ethical products?

Yes - as long as it wasn't ridiculous - probably up to 10% more.

I would just add that I have cats too, so you might lose my custom if I was shopping for them too and found what I wanted for the dog in a shop that catered for both.

Good luck with the venture!

PS - Would also hope you'd allow dogs inside the shop .

Partnering with local rescues and breeders would also be good - stocking information and contacts and so forth.

The reason why I'm restricting to dogs is mainly because there is another pet shop in the town which has a wide variety of things for other animals but is rubbish for dogs!

Also, market research is leaning towards people spending more on dogs but less on cats, and in our area, the dog population is HUGE! :)

1. If you could shop locally for your dog products (rather than say, pets at home) would you and why? What if it was slightly more expensive?

Well I use pets at home because they do a half decent grain free food at a reasonable price that my dog will eat... so I’d carry on buying that.

I would go if it had stuff I can’t get, like half sturdy toys or pizzle sticks

1. What would you like to see sold in the shop?

Half sturdy toys and pizzle sticks, lol
Basically stuff that’s not a load of rubbish.

1. Would you consider using the shop if it also offered a grooming or daycare service?

Wouldn’t use those.

1. Would you be interested in paying a little more for quality brands and/or eco ethical products?

Well I pretty much already do, so...

Google Barkers they seem to offer something similar. The one in my local town Marlow is closing down. If you visit the town you would think it would do well, loads of designer dogs, stay at home mums, retired people, very posh area (think we have the only Ivy outside London) and the shop is near to a massive park where everyone walks their dogs. If they couldn’t make a successsful shop there then I doubt the concept is workable sadly.

Just read a bit more, Barkers is actually a pets at home sub brand (but very well hidden) they are closing all their stores, saying they couldn’t make profits with the high rent on high street. If pets at home can’t make this concept work with their buying power I would be very cautious.

1. I'm afraid not. I can't drive for health reasons so couldn't be lugging back the heavy stuff on a bus. If I could drive, I think I would still order online from the individual suppliers.
2. Although I'm a complete online addict, if I were to visit your store, I would love to see beautiful high quality collars, jumpers and coats as well as high quality treats, food, grooming tools and toys.
3. No
4. Yes definitely

You need to add some kind of USP

Possibly a "Dog Central" type place where I can take my dog, where there are heaps of local resources (dog walkers, groomers, trainers, agility classes, breeders possibly, dog photographers, that kind of malarkie) and yes where my dog is 'known', would have a lot of appeal for me.

Dog day care - possibly yes for emergencies!

1. If you could shop locally for your dog products (rather than say, pets at home) would you and why? What if it was slightly more expensive?

Yes, although possibly not for bulk bags of dog food. If a local shop supplied the brand I like and was prepared to deliver at a convenient time I would pay slightly more than online. I did religiously buy poo bags from our local shop (Pedigree, cost a bomb but are the best by far) until the shop closed down.

1. What would you like to see sold in the shop?

Poo bags! Personalised and bespoke stuff. I have a breed that has an issue with fitting into standard dog coats and they always need to try stuff on. Quality supplements. Grain free/hypoallergenic food and treats. Perhaps some doggy themed gift-ware for the owners.

1. Would you consider using the shop if it also offered a grooming or daycare service?

Don't need the grooming but if I had a breed that needed it then yes. Daycare I might use if it was well run. If by any chance it had a secure, fenced outdoor area that people could use or hire for exercise or training I'd be super interested but that is a big ask for a town centre.

1. Would you be interested in paying a little more for quality brands and/or eco ethical products?

Yes, no problem.

1. What I would really have liked when my dogs were younger would have been a coffee shop where owners and dogs could meet and chat and then browse in the shop. Pooch is now too old to cope with that sort of thing.

1. Yes definitely, would always rather support independent businesses than chains. My local pet shop is actually cheaper on a number of things than PAH.
   I also buy a lot from Active Hound online.

2. Frozen/Raw dog food and treats. Good quality treats and toys. No rawhide!!

3. Maybe but I’d have to check out the facilities first and I’d also like to see how the groomer handles the dogs and which equipment is used to dry them etc.
   Daycare would be useful sometimes but without all the paperwork needed as I don't give annual boosters (only had puppy jabs)

4. Absolutely, brands like Kong/Chuck-It/Ruffwear/Hurtta/Ezydog are worth paying more for.

Knowledgeable staff are a godsend. If I ever ask PAH staff a question they look at me like I’ve grown two heads and they have no clue and no advice.
I want to know which is the best lead to buy if I’m torn between two brands for example and I want to know the pros and cons of each.