Website Closers® presents a Pet Products eCommerce Brand operating mostly as a Direct-to-Consumer e-tailer with very little Advertising Spend. They are focused within a very specialized area of the Pet Care Industry – Pet Fish Medication. And with a 52% Repeat Order Rate and super low Customer Acquisition Cost, the resulting margins exceed 30%. Smart entrepreneurs are searching for companies that have high margins, repeat business, and low competition … and this fits the bill nicely for all search criteria.
With more than 840 million pets living in homes around the globe, consumers are spending record amounts on pet care. This company, which has been operating for more than a decade, has become one of the largest direct sellers within this niche, and a trusted brand for fish meds available online.
The Brand
The Brand sells its full pet product offerings primarily through its Branded Website, which operates on the Shopify platform. The company has been selling over-the-counter antibiotics for tropical fish and birds, which don’t require a prescription from a veterinarian. They now enjoy 30% year-over-year growth margins on their 16 products, which have an Average Order Value of $92. Customers have come to rely on these products for their beloved pets as evidenced by the company’s impressive Repeat Customer Rate.
The business is able to operate without heavy ad spend due to a simple Search Engine Optimization program that works well and brings in a lot of low bounce organic traffic, and an email marketing campaign that promotes upsells and cross-sells to their growing customer base. Their ad budget is just 3% of overall spending as their SEO work has been delivering 18,000+ unique monthly visitors to their website. 84% of all website traffic is unpaid traffic driven by organic search, direct site visits and email.
With 32% profit margins, this offering is a great opportunity for a buyer to enjoy a leadership position in this profitable niche space, with recurring revenues to a business with low overhead . At the same time, the business has plenty of great scale opportunities, including through new digital marketing tools such as social media marketing and by expanding their product line.
The global Pet Care Industry is booming, and profits have been soaring since the pandemic lockdowns in 2020 as consumers began looking online for a host of products for domestic animals, ranging from food and toys to grooming care and outdoor fencing. Sales of pet medications have been skyrocketing since the pandemic temporarily closed veterinary clinics, prompting millions to search for products online. Today, millions of pet owners are more comfortable than ever finding products online that are designed to keep their pets healthy and safe, and businesses such as this one that delivers results can expect strong customer loyalty. That’s exactly what this brand has accomplished.
THE COMPANY
Founded in January 2012, the company now sells 16 products, which are manufactured by their supplier, a certified pharmaceutical company that they have a trusted relationship with. Antibiotics for larger animals such as dogs are heavily regulated by the government and require a veterinarian’s prescription, but for birds and aquatic and tropical fish, they are not, which is what the company has focused on. All products are pharmaceutical-grade antibiotics, tested and highly effective, and a reason why their sales continue increasing is because the company has a well-earned reputation within the industry for marketing safe and effective products.
The company operates exclusively on its Shopify website since sites such as Amazon and eBay do not allow over-the-counter pet pharmaceuticals.
Most of the company’s sales are in the U.S., although the business has started getting orders from Canada and Europe. Sales remain steady throughout the year, with the summer months being the slower part of the year, and on average they ship 100 orders daily.
Their sales grew during the Covid-19 pandemic as the public shifted toward online purchases, and now many of those customers have become repeat buyers. The company also has a reputation for fast shipping that has convinced many consumers to return to their site to make purchases several times a year.
OPERATIONS
A strong turnkey operation today, this straightforward business doesn’t need a lot of management or a lengthy time commitment and would be an easy one to transition to a new buyer. It also requires minimal space in which to operate given the relatively small size of the products – easy to store, easy to ship.
The current ownership focuses mainly on overseeing their email marketing campaign, handling customer service inquiries, and arranging shipping. Both customer service and shipping take about one to two hours daily. Other tasks include forecasting and preparing new orders.
The owner is assisted by 2 part-time employees who also work on shipping and customer service. The entire business could easily be run by one part-time worker averaging 20 hours per week.
Their supplier is based in the Midwest and all stock is domestic. The company does its own shipping and maintains one month’s worth of inventory, which is managed through Shopify, which also enables them to do sales forecasting.
MARKETING
While there are larger competitors that offer a wider variety of pet medications and prescriptions, this company has creatively used its SEO program to target keywords that drive sales of its specialized products. This has not only sent their Repeat Customer rate soaring past 50% of their sales but also given them a 9% conversion rate.
The company focuses on organic traffic to drive sales, which has been successful for them. With a blog on their website and the use of popular keywords related to this industry, they routinely send email newsletters to the 90,000+ subscribers in their database. With an amazing 24% open rate, email marketing accounts for about 30% of their sales.
While they are operating very profitably right now, the company could increase its sales through additional digital marketing programs, including a social media marketing campaign, influencer marketing, and running PPC ads on Google.
This is a unique business that has carved out a leadership position within the enormously lucrative Pet Care Industry, by offering specialized medications for fish and birds that are hard to find elsewhere. After more than a decade the company has a strong market presence, and now all this business needs is a buyer eager to scale it and sharply increase its profitability.
