Pets are not just happy little creatures that greet us when we return home. Pets are loving, loyal companions who deserve a special place in our hearts.
Pet products aren’t new. However, pet owners can invest in many “extra” accessories for their furry friends. Here are the top-selling products and supplies for pet dropshipping.
You want to know how reliable this niche is? The pet market was stable and profitable during the last chaotic year, despite many other industries/niches experiencing significant upheavals.
Below is a quick overview of Google Trends results for Pet Products. This niche is very consistent, as can be seen.
This niche is full of many products, so there are endless options. We have compiled a list of the top-selling products in this niche to save you time. Let’s get to it!
Andreas Koenig, Alexander Pecka knew what they wanted from the beginning.
“I knew from the beginning that I wanted to be self-employed. Andreas says that I didn’t want to work for a large company. “I wanted to start my own business.”
They are both Austrian and have spent six years together as friends, witnessing each others’ journeys through entrepreneurship with all its ups, downs, and everything in between.
Andreas states, “We both were looking for a long period of time to see what type of business we could do.” “We wanted to be completely free. You have to be at a restaurant or other establishment and work hard. Although we also work a lot we do it from wherever we desire.”
They decided to go online and start their own business in search of a business that could be operated anywhere.
They tried to ride the rising currency prices by getting into the cryptocurrency market. They also tried networking marketing and delved into affiliate market.
Alexander discovered dropshipping in the early 2018 at this time.
They were attracted to the Dropshipping Ecommerce Business Model which would allow them operate an online shop without having to buy inventory upfront.
Their supplier would manage all their inventory including shipping orders to customers. They wouldn’t have to be tied to any warehouses or piles.
The business could be operated anywhere they choose. Their business could be easily expanded if they traveled. It was all done entirely from a laptop.
Best of all, they could build the business .
Andreas states that it is a long-term business that will not crash like the crypto market and networking marketing. These can be gone in a day. This is the thing about ecommerce. If you have an ecommerce store, it’s your company. It is more stable than other markets and it cannot crash.
How to Start an Ecommerce Business
They joined Oberlo to find products they could sell online. They then created an online store using Shopify.
They were eager to start a new business and began looking for products. They came across an automatic toothpaste dispenser.
“We discovered that there’s a large US company that sells it via television. Andreas says that they sell millions of pieces.
It also met the three golden rules for a great dropshipping product.
The toothpaste dispenser they used was:
- Unique: It’s not possible to buy it in a local store
- It is difficult to predict the price of the product: They could determine a profit margin for the product.
- Lightweight (for more affordable shipping) and durable.
Winner is the winner
They received a sample from their supplier and began to create a video for advertising.
Andreas recalls that he spent two days creating a marketing video.
They set up Facebook ads with the video and launched their store. They waited for sales to come in, then they relaxed.
Other than… crickets.
Alexander laughs, “We had one sale.”
Andreas realized that their lack of experience in Facebook advertising was what let them down. He says, “The video was great!” “But, we weren’t skilled enough with Facebook ads for it to be profitable.”
They finally made the call.
Andreas says, “After one to two weeks we closed it down because it wouldn’t bring in us money, and it will burn our cash.”
Start a dropshipping general store
Although their original plan was abandoned, they continued to search for new products and were determined to succeed.
The general store was then created by Life-Hacks.
They decided to close the toothpaste dispenser shop because it was too niche. They wanted to open a store that sold a wide range of products and could appeal to a wide audience.
“We wanted it to be able to test different products and to find the best. We can’t determine if a product is a winner if we only have one in our store. It’s either a winner or it doesn’t. We had the opportunity to test five to six niches in a general store. Andreas said that we had several categories such as beauty, kitchen, baby and pet products.
They added many products and spent hours improving their store design, as well as writing product descriptions for each item.
Alexander now realizes that this was not the best strategy. “We had 40 products from different suppliers in this store. He says that it was a huge mistake.
It was difficult to coordinate stock levels and relationships among many suppliers. If a supplier changes their prices, it will immediately impact their margins and cause them to scramble to keep up.
They also realized that marketing was a difficult task.
They had difficulty identifying the right audience when they tried to run ads on Instagram or Facebook. Their potential audience would be anyone if their store offered something for everyone.
It would be too costly to reach an audience of everyone. It was not going to work.
They were left scratching their heads at the question of what their store’s brand was and why anyone would care.
“All general shops around the globe look the same. You can tell a better story if you have a niche. It is possible to tell a story about your store. Alexander says that you cannot tell a good story in a general store.
After trying unsuccessfully to grow the company, they realized that it was the wrong strategy.
You can build your skills and test your skills by starting with a general shop. Andreas says it is difficult to become very profitable and large with a general shop.
Alexander is in agreement. Alexander agrees. I will only be making niche shops in the future, because I love it more.
Start a Dropshipping Pet Business
They were now two stores deep in failure and had spent a lot of their original budget.
“We built our first store and it was very, very difficult. Although we had sales, we weren’t profitable. We spent around $2,000 on Facebook ads and invested a lot of time.
They realized that there was a reason why things were not working out for them. So they returned to the beginning to find it.
They had an idea to open a pet store from their general store. Because people have strong attachments to their pets they thought they would be happy to spend money.
Andreas states, “It’s great to be in a niche people love.” It could be something that they can do together, with their pets, or with their children. People will spend money if they love it and they won’t look at every dollar they’re spending.
The couple stocked the store with small quantities of grooming accessories, toys and collars. They learned from their experiences with the general store and decided to reduce the number of suppliers that they had to deal. Instead, they tried to import multiple items from one supplier.
The beginning was slow with the pet business and they didn’t make any profits. They were determined to continue learning and improving.
Andreas reflects on the hours spent learning marketing strategies.
Alexander laughs, “We probably watched one thousand YouTube videos.”
They understood that they had to be fully committed if this was to work.
We stopped all other businesses to make room for this store and devoted all our time, including weekends, to the new pet business. Andreas says that we were working very, really hard.
They began to learn more about their past stores and realized the mistakes they made.
You must spend a lot of time writing a great product description. It’s important that you don’t make a typo if English is not your native language, as Alexander’s or mine. Absolutely nothing. It must be flawless grammatically and free from typos. Andreas says that one typo in our pet business was fatal to our conversion rate.
Alexander recollects the night he found the typo in their website’s product page form. He says that he wrote “tipe” instead of “type” for a custom field. “All Americans saw this and no one wanted to enter their data. They thought it was suspicious because they couldn’t write the correct words.
They fixed the typo and watched as their conversion rate increased.
Andreas made another small adjustment that had a big impact.
He says, “At the beginning the pet business wasn’t profitable.” “Then, I added a spin the-wheel app.”
The spin a-wheel app is designed to collect customer email addresses to your newsletter list. It offers customers the chance to win a spin-a wheel game in return for a coupon code.
Andreas understood that although collecting email addresses is great for marketing, the real goal was that the user should actually shop with the coupon that they receive.
Although the app generated email addresses well at first, he realized that customers were disappointed when they only received a five percent discount.
Andreas says that after two weeks, he realized that everyone who was shopping in his shop was the winner of 10% or 15% off. “So I increased the price of our shop and let everyone win 10 or 15% discounts.”
This small change made a huge impact.
Andreas smiles and says, “After this change, we had 10x the turnover!” “In the beginning, we sold 1 to 2 products per day. Then we started selling 10-15 products per daily! It went up from $30 per day to $350-400 per day and it just kept going up.”
Andreas and Alexander learned from their mistakes and were able to refine their strategy and scale up their business. They had $24,719 in sales at the end of October 2018. They were at close to $150,000 by January 2019, with an average of $41,000 per month.
The Secrets They Learned on the Road to Success
Andreas and Alexander made many mistakes as they struggled through their first stores. These mistakes helped them to build their next business.
They were focused on a few key points when they began their pet business. These were the things that made all of the difference.
Concentrate on your Customers
Alexander and Andreas are committed to great customer support. They provide 24/7 customer support via email and phone.
Customers can access answers at any time by setting up a recording on the phone that contains answers to most of their most common questions. They also make it a policy of responding quickly to all emails, no matter what time they arrive.
Andreas laughs, “Alexander hasn’t been sleeping much!”
They are also available on Facebook and spend much of their time reading and responding to customers’ comments. Andreas says, “We try very hard to stay close to our customers. They love it.”
Establish a great relationship with your supplier
They value their relationships with customers more than just the relationship. They have focused on building a strong relationship with their suppliers to help them develop the best products. Their suppliers are now able to recommend other products to them based on what is selling well.
They have been in contact with one of their suppliers recently about creating a range custom-made products.
They are excited to create their own product and credit their strong relationship with their suppliers and customers for making this possible.
“We listen to what customers have to say in comments and then we ask them what their needs are.” Andreas says that if you get to know your customers, you can create products they love.
Yes, it’s possible to compete with Amazon
Dropshipping is a popular way to start your career. However, many people feel intimidated by this fear.
Why would anyone purchase from me instead of Amazon?
This is a valid question for anyone selling generic products that are available on other online shops. Alexander and Andreas have discovered that it is possible to be competitive.
Their strategy is double-edged.
First, you can add value by combining products to create a bundle. They use a bundle to sell their top-selling product and accessories, which can all be purchased at a discount price. They can offer their products at a lower price or greater value than Amazon by using bundles such as this.
Their second strategy, “we can compete Amazon”, is to build their store to feel like an iconic brand.
Andreas says that while Amazon could be cheaper, the marketing on Amazon is cold. Everything looks the same.
You’ll find photos of adorable pets and their happy owners when you visit their pet store. This instantly creates the impression of a brand-name product rather than a generic product that is sold on Amazon like millions. That is what really matters.
“If we lose one to two customers to Amazon, that’s okay. Andreas says that if the price is right on our site, the product page is well-designed and trust is present, they won’t look elsewhere for it. They will just buy it from us. “That’s what happens between 50 and 70 times per day, every single day. We are happy about this!
You should be prepared to spend some money
Alexander and Andreas knew from the beginning that dropshipping would cost them money. They saved $3,000 for mentorship and product testing.
Andreas says, “What people don’t realize is that they need money in order to start.” They’ll need money to buy Shopify ads. To register their sole trader company, they’ll need it. There are legal questions as well as tax consulting questions. There are many little things.”
Alexander advises that anyone working within a tight budget should plan ahead. He says, “If you really want to do it, you need to plan for it.” You could work at your regular job, save money, and then look for free YouTube videos. Then, you can do some coaching, and you will be able to start spending money on ads.
You have to be committed
After two failures, Alexander and Andreas were determined to succeed in their pet business. They did everything necessary to make it work.
This meant that you had to put in a lot of effort and time learning, and then getting better. Both of them agree that this is essential for anyone who wants to start a dropshipping business. You just have to commit. The couple spends more than 70 hours a week working on the business.
Alexander says dropshipping is a business that can be profitable.
You should not expect to have any free time if you are working in a regular job. For two to three months, you can go to bed with your notebook and watch videos, read blogs, or just lay down. Once you have this knowledge, you will be able to apply it. Andreas suggests that you set aside time to do this because it is time-consuming. It’s worthwhile, it’s really that simple.
