Selling pet products online can be tricky if not done correctly. This article presents some useful tips to sell pet products in your eCommerce store successfully.
One of the great things about catering to pet owners is that they love their pets and look at new ways to make them look happy, cute, and content. In 2020, the pet product market was approximately around $180 billion. It is now predicted to increase to a whopping $255 billion within the year 2027.
If you are a small shop owner and want to leverage this ever-growing industry of pet products, all you need to do is to have a plan and ensure that you stick to it. This is the perfect time to grow your business and take it to the next level. You can build your niche worldwide with careful planning and strategizing. All you have to consider is how you want to showcase your product, what you want to say, and what unique flavor you bring to the market.
How to Sell Products Online
If you have a supply store for pet products and want to increase your profit margin, it’s time to take your business online. One of the biggest takeaways from the pandemic was that many customers prefer the convenience and ease of online purchases. During the pandemic, more and more people moved toward the online space and discovered a whole new world of a wider variety of products. Previously, they had a couple of choices; now, they have hundreds of them. That is the audience that you will have to target.
ALSO READ: How do Order Confirmation Emails Help Improve Customer Satisfaction?
Of course, you cannot do anything without strategizing and finding the best way to achieve your goal. So here are a few things that you can do to take your product online:
- Learn about your market and target audience
- Find a supplier and decide your pricing
- Get the necessary certifications and licenses
- Create your online store and social media pages
- Market your store effectively
Let us look at each of them individually.
• Learn About Your Market & Target Customer Base
The first step in taking your pet products online is to research the market. This is where it is ideal for making a business plan. List out all the things you need to take your product online. Find out who your target customer base is and what their requirements are. Find out who your competitors are and determine what makes you different. You will need that letter when you are marketing your product.
Find out what types of pet products are popular in the market and what they have in common. If you sell a specific type of pet product, then narrow down your research accordingly. For example, if you only cater to pet foods, you don’t need to research pet grooming products. The bonus will be if you already have a brick-and-mortar shop, love animals, know a lot about them, or both.
• Find a Supplier & Decide Your Pricing
When you plan to take your pet product business online, a good idea is to find a supplier to maintain your stock and help build your brand. If you plan to deliver your pet product to the doorstep of your customer, you will need a supplier to do so efficiently.
Another option is to buy your pet products in a wholesale market and store and ship them as and when the customer needs them. You can also search for local suppliers of pet products or manufacture the products. If you manufacture your pet products, you can customize them according to the customer’s requirements.
• Get the Necessary Certifications & Licenses
Once you are determined and ready to take your pet products online, the next logical step is to handle the legalities of it. Ensure that you have obtained the necessary licenses and certifications required. The legalities may be simple depending on the variety of pet products you offer, but it is always a good idea to have them ready before you start selling your products online. For example, if you sell pet food, you will need the relevant food safety certification of the area you cater to.
• Create Your Online Store & Social Media Pages
The most cost-effective way of creating your online pet store to sell pet products is to have your e-commerce website. Multiple e-commerce websites nowadays provide a gamut of services at competitive pricing. Using that will ensure that you have one less hassle to worry about.
Once you have successfully created your online store, the next step is to ensure you have a page for that on every available social media platform. The idea is to make your presence felt and tell your potential customers about what you are selling and how you are unique from your competitors. Remember, the idea is to be unique but not strange!
Foundations of a Solid Pet Product Marketing Strategy
After all your other components are ready, you are now well-equipped to take the next most important step, and that is to market your store. For that, you must have a good strategy to market your product across your customer base.
ALSO READ: Adverse Implications of Returns on eCommerce Brands & How to Deal with Them
Start with your local market, which you know the general demographic of. Create local Facebook and WhatsApp groups and start building your customer base and gaining their trust. Ensure you post on your social media platforms consistently. The content you post should be engaging and appealing so that they attract customers. If you can get a social media influencer to endorse your pet product business, that will accelerate your growth. Write blogs and posts around pet care; you can concentrate on tips and tricks but ensure you have long and short-form content to appeal to various customer bases.
If there are pet shows, check if you can attend them and use these shows to promote your brand. Always take any chance to interact with pet lovers; they will work with you to promote your business. However, you will have to convince them about the quality of your pet product.
Conclusion:
When you create an online presence for your pet products, you ensure that your products are more visible, a wider range of people are aware of your brand and thus boost your sales. Ensure that you make a personal connection to the animal lovers.
ALSO READ: Traditional vs. Hi-Tech 3PL: A Comparison
Participate in causes that affect animal welfare, ensure that your customers see you as more than a commercial brand, and relate to you on humanitarian grounds. This connection and trust that you build will yield repeat customers and word-of-mouth advertisements. These word-of-mouth advertisements can make or break any business and is a great advertising tool for you to control.
About XPDEL:
XPDEL is a leading hi-tech provider of Fulfillment and Logistics Services on a mission to enable growth for eCommerce companies. We are futuristic in our vision and constantly work on creating technology that helps us meet customer expectations for today and tomorrow. We have a wide network of Fulfillment centers that enables us to efficiently handle nationwide delivery in the US – same day, next day, and 2-day delivery. Being closer to the end consumer, we deliver much faster than others.
