Website Closers® presents an eCommerce Pet Brand that has, over the last nine years, been leaps and bounds ahead of the competition in terms of quality and professionalism in the Working and Service Dog space. This well represented brand was created so consumers can access high-quality working dog harnesses, patches, and leashes at affordable prices that are ascetically pleasing and highly durable. Working Dogs are animals that help their owners as Service, Therapy and/or Emotional Support Dogs. Products for these amazing animals have been in the top 5 listings in their category on Amazon for the past nine years and have an average rating of 4.5 stars. While the company primarily sells on Amazon, they started out on eBay (and still sell there), they sell on their website and they sell products wholesale to companies like Chewy.com. Their product reviews on Chewy.com are also phenomenal, proving the quality and controls used by this company works.
The owner developed a brand that connects with customers and understands that a service dog is more than a companion; it’s a partner. All products are built upon that special relationship between handler and dog and are designed to make that bond stronger and more reliable.
During the manufacturing process, 95% of the harness is stitched using a computerized machine which provides a significantly stronger stitch than alternatives and ensures that the harnesses are consistent in size. Quality is essential to any customer, but especially in this niche, so the focus has been delivering on that.
Although this company is the premium brand on Amazon in its category, the harness is still an extraordinary value. Customers frequently remark the products feel and look like they should cost twice as much. Furthermore, this bestselling harness can fit nearly any breed because of its customizability.
Overseeing the Operations Director Handling PPC advertising Liaising with the Inventory Manager Assisting the Customer Support Team with customer questions Setting strategy The typical customer is female, accounting for 60% of sales, and there is consistent demand from most age groups, with the majority 25 – 65 years old. Most customers have a household income of less than 150k, with the bulk evenly split between the 50-75k and 75k-100k range. In addition, 53% of customers are married.
This business comprises 175 SKUs, all sold under the brand name, and annual revenue is growing steadily. Sales remain consistent throughout the year resulting in stable cash flow and easily manageable inventory.
Inventory is stored at a 3PL that the company has used for years. They provide excellent service and ship directly to Amazon, wholesale customers, and occasional Shopify orders.
The business is highly systemized, and the owner spends between 1 and 10 hours weekly working on it. Her primary tasks include:
- Overseeing the Operations Director
- Handling PPC advertising
- Liaising with the Inventory Manager
- Assisting the Customer Support Team with customer questions
- Setting strategy
Three additional employees work as an Operations Director, Amazon Account Manager, and Inventory/Supply Chain Manager.
In terms of marketing, the business relies solely on Amazon PPC advertising. As a result, there is enormous room for growth and many ways to achieve it. International expansion, particularly on Amazon, would undoubtedly increase revenue in a short time. Expansion to Canada and Europe is low-hanging fruit and would be a relatively straightforward move, given the brand’s tenure and success on the platform. In fact, Amazon automatically opted the brand into the remote fulfillment FBA program in Canada in July, 2022 and the initial results have been very positive despite very messy listings and zero ad spend. In August, the brand sold $4,000 on Amazon.ca and if the listings were optimized, ads were turned on and inventory shipped into Canada Distribution Centers to enable FBA, immediate scale would be realized.
Profitability would be increased through optimization of the PPC spend. There are also opportunities to increase revenue with campaigns that are not currently in place, such as video ads. An Amazon expert or an owner wishing to outsource advertising to an agency or specialist would likely see enormous returns and profitability.
Expansion to other channels and platforms such as Walmart, Target, Faire, and Google Shopping is a no-brainer. This would introduce the brand’s products to an entirely new audience of millions and certainly boost revenue. Focusing on the company’s Shopify-built website seems like a promising option. It currently accounts for just 1% of sales but has not been advertised. Driving traffic to the store will increase sales and margins, better customer relationships, and help accumulate an email database for additional advertising.
Launching additional products would open an entirely new market. For example, marketing the high-quality dog harnesses for pets instead of just working dogs increases the potential customer pool by millions. In addition, bundling items would likely increase the average order value, and customization has been a huge trend for some time.
Five turnkey product listings exist than can easily be turned back on. The owner “retired” these listings to use cash on hand to keep top sellers in stock. These are great products with a strong history and excellent reviews. There is an opportunity to quickly increase monthly revenue by reintroducing these items, updating the listing images, and turning on a few single-word campaigns. All these items are in stock, so it would be easy to assemble these SKUs and send them to Amazon.
This established, unique, and profitable business has shown steady and stable growth over many years. A buyer with Amazon expertise, wholesale contacts, or time to invest in growth strategies can boost revenue enormously in little time and take this business to the next level.
