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I am currently living in Italy in a relatively affluent neighborhood about 10km outside the city center of Milan called Milano 3. It is essentially a large park with apartment buildings, a lake, a shopping center,and has a population of about 7000 people. Milano 3 is one of the best places to own a dog; there are large open fields to run and play, endless paths through the park to walk with no traffic, and a very dog friendly community in general. As a result, there is a relatively higher than average dog population here, and I soon sensed a business opportunity. After doing some preliminary research we have determined that there are about 1000 dogs and 1000 cats living here (very rough numbers obviously) and last month I started the motions to open a 'pet spa and boutique' here to cater to the large population of pets with owners who have significant spending power (considering the general recession here in Europe). The shop will offer premium grooming services as well as the basic stuff. It will also offer a range of quality pet accessories (collars, leashes, toys, beds, bowls, snacks) as well as high quality pet foods for dogs and cats. I've been working on my business plan, have secured my location, and am in touch with a couple of distributors here in Italy (including Champion Petfoods who produce Orijen) Now I am at a critical point in my business plan where I am trying to calculate the forecasted sales and I'm hoping that someone here might have some helpful information or advice! I would especially appreciate any information regarding how fast products move in pet shops, especially smaller establishments. I am looking for general indications for how many collars/balls/bowls etc. I can hope to sell in a month. Same for food. As mentioned, I will be offering grooming services but I haven't been able to successfully calculate the services into the forecasted sales. I'm also not sure how to price the grooming services since everything I've looked at just vaguely says that it depends on the size of the dog and their coat type. I'm open to any advice and opinions towards running a small pet shop and ready to share any relevant information that I have probably missed out. Thanks in advance 
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| # ? Feb 18, 2013 18:22 |
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| # ? May 22, 2013 11:33 |
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You should post this in Pet Island, but they are probably going to tell you you're in over your head if you don't even have a grasp of what's involved in dog grooming.
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| # ? Feb 18, 2013 21:05 |
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Unless your store is going to be the only option in an extremely isolated area, you can't possibly support a business on 7000 potential customers. You need to know what kind of competition is nearby (chains, independent retailers, and how much people order online in your area). You need to know how far people are willing to travel for your service. How many other grooming shops are established in the area? My relatively extensive pet retail experience is limited to a few US markets. It is my understanding that attitudes toward pet ownership are very different in Europe than they are here. At my store, customers don't think twice about dropping $50 for a week's worth of raw food, or $70-90 for a 30lb bag of kibble. I have plenty of regulars who will spend upwards of $200 a month on treats alone. They are affluent, their pet is their life, and they will spend almost anything to make their pets happier and healthier. Is your neighborhood like this? You say they have spending power, but are they willing to use it on their pets? Trillian brings up a pretty important point. Grooming pricing depends mainly on how much time it's going to take to perform a service, as well as how much skill is required to perform it. Obviously giving a 6lb chihuahua a bath is going to take less time and skill than hand-stripping an 80lb giant schnauzer. If you do not have substantial salon experience, plan on hiring a full-time grooming salon manager, you will not be able to handle it. Do you even know what kind of dogs are popular in the area? This can vary widely by locale, even when they are pretty close together. My main location is primarily large dogs, pitties, labs, and an amazing number of primitive breeds. We have another location 6 miles away that is almost entirely small dogs. Much of this will be dictated by the type of housing around your shop, but it's something critical to understand before you start anything. As far as forecasting sales, nobody can do that without 20x the information you posted. Do you have any retail experience? Basically, you have no market research (just a super-vague guess about how many dogs are in your area) and no experience. Get both, then this becomes a viable option.
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| # ? Feb 19, 2013 01:21 |
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Thanks for the replies so far. I didn't post this in PI because I was looking for business advice rather than grooming advice Plus I wasn't planning on doing the grooming myself, I was hoping to hire someone already professionally trained to groom both dogs and cats. Regarding the neighborhood and market research. People here definitely see and treat their pets like their children or extensionsof themselves and I have no doubt they would be willing to spend money on their pets. I have a dog and I've been talking to many many pet owners around here before coming up with the idea. One the advantages about Milano 3 is that the shopping area (where the location that I am interested in is) is within walking distance for many many households. My competition are one large superstore about 7 mins drive and a smaller (but still much larger than I am planning) one about 15mins away. I was hoping to take advantage of its proximity, and add the essence of a 'luxury' service ato give me a slightly different market position compared to the more 'industrial' feeling that the superstore has, especially the grooming area. Milano 3 has a very strong sense of community and I was hoping to tap into that as well, for example when the weather is nice people will walk around the center to socialize with their dogs, stop and have a coffee and enjoy the sun with their dogs, and this is all within walking distance of their houses and my shop will be in the middle of that. I was also thinking maybe to include things like pet portraits and photography by local artists, stuff like that. I know that I'm still lacking a lot in regards to other market research and I was thinking of doing some kind of survey for the residents here. The types of dogs here are very varied, lots of small Bichon type dogs, lots of Jack Russells, Boxers, Papillons, Beagles, Labs, just off the top of my head. Granted I don't have a lot of retail experience, but I have already had potential investors express genuine interest in the idea so far which is why I want to finish a business plan that makes sense. Anyway, thanks again for your input, I will keep everything that you pointed out in mind. E: I just wanted to make a small clarification regarding this neighborhood because it is unlike anything I've seen in North America, so think of Milano 3 as a large gated community. All the apartments are basically the same, and there are some more expensive villas but generally the standard of living here is pretty consistent across the population of the place. luna piena fucked around with this message at Feb 19, 2013 around 08:31 |
| # ? Feb 19, 2013 08:26 |
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From a marketing perspective, your target segment (or target market) is not the population (7k). Your target segment will be a segment of the population. Specifically, dog and cat owners who want your grooming services (not all animal owners will be interested in grooming). It would be far more helpful to your business plan if you can find statistical data that can break down your target segment to the proper fraction of 7k. This, quote:People here definitely see and treat their pets like their children or extensionsof themselves and I have no doubt they would be willing to spend money on their pets. is not market research. But you've redeemed yourself by offering to do a poll. That's a GREAT idea and will give you valuable insight that no other competitor will have. Just make sure to follow the rules when creating a questionnaire; if you have a friend who specializes in statistics, hit them up for some free help! As a business owner you will learn that much of your ability to make things happen will not come from things you do, but things you get other people to do since its impossible to be efficiently proficient at everything. To illustrate my point about the numbers, I'm going to pull some impressive numbers out of my rear end in a top hat. I suggest that half the population (3.5k) are animal owners and half of those (1,750) would be considered as "interested in my product". That 1,750 is who you want to market to. You will spend and waste a lot of money marketing to the uninterested 5,250. Doing a poll would give you the data you need to flesh out those numbers better. The poll will give you demographical insight to this mystical 1,750: who they are (age, race/ethnicity, marital status), what they do (income level, profession), and what they like (hobbies, enjoyments, animal breeds). The only idea I don't like is hiring someone to do the grooming. That's something you can probably learn now. Its central to your business and would make you a better manager once the time comes to hire. Also this Milano 3 place sounds pretty dreamy. Got any pics or links? Suave Fedora fucked around with this message at Feb 19, 2013 around 15:49 |
| # ? Feb 19, 2013 15:45 |
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Suave Fedora posted:Also this Milano 3 place sounds pretty dreamy. Got any pics or links? It sounds like planned community hell to me. Different strokes
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| # ? Feb 20, 2013 23:17 |
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When you become an old fart like me with two toddlers running around lowering your IQ to levels unseen before the australopithecus era, the thought of sitting out under some trees in northern Italy and doing absolutely nothing for a few hours is pretty goddamn inviting.
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| # ? Feb 21, 2013 16:01 |
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| # ? May 22, 2013 11:33 |
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Aaaand that's why I enjoy having a dog instead of a kid. I don't live in Milano 3, though, sorry.
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| # ? Feb 23, 2013 03:41 |
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