10 Unique Pet Business Ideas To Increase Sales

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As an entrepreneur, sometimes your business seems stagnant.

Customers and sales level off, and you wonder how you can generate more interest. At moments like these, it’s important to think outside the box and look for new ideas.

Most pet stores sell pet food and basic pet accessories, and some facilitate pet adoptions — but to set your store apart from the competition, you need unique product offerings and well-managed pet services. In the pet industry, there are always new trends pet owners are coming up with and sharing with others. Capitalizing on these trends can help you make your store stand out.

In this blog, we’ll offer 10 unique pet business ideas to help you draw new customers to your pet store and increase sales.

1. Offer Pet Subscription Boxes

Pet subscription boxes are a new trend being enjoyed by thousands of pets and pet owners. Customers can subscribe to a recurring box (which typically arrives once a month) that has pet toys, food, and accessories. Each box is different, so the customer never knows exactly what they’ll receive.

This is a great way to introduce customers to new products and for customers to sample a wide variety of pet products. However, offering these boxes requires arranging new products each month, which can take significant effort.

When executed properly, offering subscription boxes creates a recurring stream of revenue for your business and helps you build customer loyalty.

Related Read: 9 Tips for Profitable Pet Subscriptions

2. Create a Pet-Friendly Atmosphere

It’s likely that many pet owners will want to bring their pets with them into your store, so it’s in your best interest to make your store pet-friendly and advertise it as such. An important aspect of pet-friendliness is keeping items a little higher on shelves so pets can’t get into them and make a mess.

For pet friendliness, it’s also important to keep plenty of space in between shelves so owners and pets can comfortably navigate the store. You might also create a pet play area, fenced off from the rest of the store, with toys for pets to play with.

Remember: Be sure to train your staff to safely interact with pets in the store.

3. Set Up Pet Training Workshops

Offering pet services helps your business become a one-stop shop for all of a customer’s pet needs, and one of the most important services you can offer is pet training.

If you do offer pet training, be sure to hire certified trainers who can offer high-quality training to your customers, and make sure you have sufficient space for these training sessions. These are best conducted in a separate room from the sales floor to avoid distractions.

Managing services is easy with a point of sale (POS) system. Some POS systems offer features for scheduling appointments, taking payment, and even sending reminder texts to customers. If you manage training appointments in an efficient way and offer quality training that yields results, customers will keep coming back (and tell their friends).

4. Introduce Grooming Services and Supplies

Another essential service you can offer is pet grooming. Like training, make sure to hire experienced groomers and use a digital system to schedule and manage appointments. You can also offer grooming products to your customers.

Here are a few essential pet grooming products you can stock:

Brushes and combs
Dematting and deshedding tools
Shampoo
Nail clippers
Ear cleaners

Offering services expands the capabilities of your business and helps you build customer loyalty.

5. Put Together Bundles

Bundles are a great way to encourage customers to buy more. By offering them a greater value for two (or more) items together than they would get if they bought them separately, customers are incentivized to buy multiple items. Bundling a higher-sales item with a lower-sales item can help you keep lower-sales items moving, clearing out overstock.

If you create a bundle, be sure to advertise it. Create displays that clearly communicate what products are being bundled and the greater value offered. Place these displays prominently at the front of your pet store.

You might bundle a popular dog food with a less popular dog toy or collar. Or you might bundle a popular dog collar with a more niche, organic dog snack. Like subscription boxes, these bundles encourage pet owners to try new products and brands and create greater awareness of your pet store’s products.

6. Stock Pet Tech

Automated pet devices, or pet tech, make life easier for pet owners. However, they’re often seen as luxury items rather than essentials — which is why it’s important to consider your audience as you determine whether you should offer pet tech products.

Ask yourself: How much are local customers willing to spend on these products? Do they have the discretionary income to spend on pet tech? Can you sell these items online? If you determine your customers will buy pet tech items, do your research to find the most popular products.

Here are a few of the most popular pet tech items currently on the market:

Automated feeders
Pet cameras
Pet collar trackers/geofence sets
Interactive pet toys
Self-cleaning litter boxes

For customers who are interested in the latest pet gadgets, offering these items will help you build credibility and loyalty.

7. Find Collaborators

You can expand your business’ reach by working with collaborators who have audiences of their own. Look for pet-related collaborators like local pet shelters, veterinarian offices, or pet social media influencers.

Both parties of a collaboration can benefit when you engage in cross-promotion. If you’re working with a local veterinary clinic, for example, you can promote their services while they promote your pet store. This can be done on social media, with flyers and posters in each organization’s location, and verbally in conversations with customers.

You can partner with collaborators for events, product launches, contests, and more.

8. Sell Pet Clothing

Pet clothing is another trend that has become increasingly popular — but like pet tech, pet clothes are rarely seen as essential items. Determine whether pet owners in your area are willing to purchase pet clothing and start with a few items on your shelves to see how they sell.

Try promoting pet clothes on social media by posting pictures of local pets trying on these outfits. Pet owners enjoy dressing up their pets, sharing photos, and seeing photos of other dressed-up pets, so social media is a prime place to generate interest in pet clothing.

9. Promote Pet Furniture

The most essential piece of pet furniture is likely a pet’s bed. You can also sell pet playsets and scratching posts. These items can get expensive, but are important purchases for pet owners. Stock and promote these items and ensure your customers will come to your store for pet furniture rather than going to a competitor.

10. Showcase Creative In-Store Displays

Sometimes how you display a product is just as important as what the product is. You can increase sales — even on products that are already popular — by putting together creative, eye-catching displays that you place in a prominent location in your pet store. Create displays for pet food, toys, or accessories.

Put together themed displays based on seasons, holidays, dogs, cats, other pets, or other topics. For themes based on times of year, you can advertise limited-time offers that prompt greater sales.

Related Read: 12 Unique Pet Shop Display Ideas

Implement Unique Pet Business Ideas With etailPet

Unique pet business ideas help you create more awareness of and excitement for your pet store. Continually seek new ideas to expand your operations and keep customers coming back.

Remember these 10 ideas for additions you can make to your pet store:

Pet subscription boxes
A pet-friendly environment
Training workshops
Grooming services
Product bundles
Pet tech
Finding collaborators
Pet clothing
Pet furniture
Creative product displays

As you implement these or other pet business ideas, remember to keep your customers in mind. Depending on your customers, some of these ideas will be more effective than others. Before you launch a new product, try conducting a survey to see what customers are interested in buying.

To implement these ideas and manage the many other operations at your pet store, you need a POS system. eTailPet is a cloud-based system specifically designed for pet stores. This all-in-one platform that will help you find new products to sell, manage your inventory, schedule services, and much more.

To see what eTailPet can do for your pet store, schedule a demo today!