Honor Those Who Love Those Pets

Today is World Animal Day, described by Bloggers Unite as “a special opportunity for anyone who loves animals to acknowledge the diverse roles that they play in our lives.”
     Retailers certainly should love animals for one of those diverse roles: Pets motivate their owners to be wonderful customers.

• The Humane Society of the United States says about 40% of U.S. households have at least one dog and about 35% own at least one cat. That’s a substantial market, even if you don’t add in the horses, birds, lizards, gerbils, and goldfish. Whatever your retailing line, it would benefit you to carry some products of special interest to pet owners.
• Researchers at St. Joseph’s University report that about 90% of pet owners consider their pets to be members of the family and about 75% of household cats and dogs receive gifts on holidays and birthdays. An ethnographic study by University of Utah researchers found a surprisingly high frequency of pet owners wanted to have a picture of their pet—ranging from dog to horse and beyond—taken with Santa Claus. What services do you offer to humans that could be profitably also offered for pets?
• Survey researchers at Eastern Washington University find much stronger loyalty for pet food expenditures than for the owner’s own food expenditures. This indicates that once you establish the habit of owners making purchases from your store for their pets, they’re likely to keep coming back, but to woo pet food purchasers who are shopping elsewhere, you’ll want to do something dramatic to bring attention to what you offer.
• People are more willing to buy premium items for their pets than for themselves. The Eastern Washington research found that about 80% of dog owners said they were serious about selecting healthy food for their dogs, but only 65% of the same people said they were serious about their own food selection. Bloomberg Businessweek reports a high increase over past months in spending on designer-label pet clothing and accessories, a substantial proportion of it via ecommerce. The University of Utah research attributed trends like these to us considering our pets to be more defenseless than ourselves. The Bloomberg Businessweek view is that we can feel luxurious with a lower price tag when the product is for Fido. So be sure you’re ready to defend and indulge pets in your business operations.

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Go Upscale for the Pet Market