Website Closers® presents an exceptionally well-managed business that operates within the immensely profitable Pet Consumer Products Vertical. With a specialty in outdoor containment solutions that protects pets from escape, predators, unfriendly neighbors and busy roads, this company has been in operation for 17 years and continues to grow nicely. All three brands receive exuberant and passionate reviews from their customer base, including lifesaving instances from coyotes and other outdoor dangers. The company has brought in tremendous sales with 38% Net Margins, Patent Protected Products, and a 27% Repeat Order Rate … all while giving homeowners the protection and security they need for their pets using the highest quality materials and customer service.
The public’s love and concern for their furry friends isn’t likely to change anytime soon, so this company has an extremely exciting future. The market is constantly growing and evolving, and there are ample opportunities to quickly scale this business through new approaches to digital marketing and channel diversification.
Products that allow consumers to cater to their pets truly have become a massive industry. U.S. retail sales of pet products and services surpassed $107 billion in 2020, a 9% rise when compared to 2019. During the lockdowns, there was an increase across the country in pet adoptions, which was followed by an increasing amount spent on pet care services.
For nearly two decades, this business has helped pet lovers provide happier and healthier lives to cats and dogs worldwide. They accomplish this by providing simple, effective, and unique solutions to complex problems faced by individuals, rescues, shelters, and pet boarding facilities.
As this company quickly learned, the market for this product is enormous. The brand has been so successful, in fact, that they now carry four separate domains. The business has expanded to include fencing for dogs, cat patio enclosures, and a cat fencing site marketed in the UK.
Their original eCommerce site was launched 17 years ago, with a focus on providing outdoor pet containment solutions, but ones that also create an enjoyable outdoor space for cats and dogs. Their products included systems for fencing modifications, free-standing fencing, portable containments, and full modular enclosures. Their pet fence systems and fence conversion add-ons have become their top sellers, and 99% of all products are sold under this company’s own proprietary brands.
Taking advantage of rising brand awareness, the company continues to expand. In fact, they now market 500 SKUs, the most popular sold in kit form. Their average order value ranges from $459 for the dog brand to $791 for the cat brand and $1,481 for the cat patio brand.
Initially, sales were stronger in the warm weather months. Since these products are used outdoors, order volume was higher from March through September. But sales have started to increase in winter months as well. Due to their products addressing issues that pet owners and organizations specifically face in colder months, sales are much steadier year-round, and not just in the United States but in Canada and Europe as well, and the company is enjoying 56% gross margins.
As sales have increased, so have testimonials from both highly enthusiastic customers and from cat rescue agencies and pet shelters, which have also become a meaningful component of their customer base. In fact, satisfied customers are becoming an increasingly significant part of their sales, with 27% of purchases coming from repeat customers. Their typical customer is between the age of 35 and 70, middle class to affluent, with a strong commitment to their pets. The average lifetime value of their customers is $1,082.
The company averages 14 orders shipped per day, and stocks their products for shipment, with between $240,000 and $400,000 in inventory kept in stock, depending on how busy the season is. They have a 10,000 (approximately 2500 more than required) square foot building that includes 500 square feet of office space, which they use for light component assembly, packing and shipping.
While the company operates mainly on their four Shopify websites, they have started putting some listings on Amazon. They are also approved for sales on Walmart but haven’t started listing there yet. Amazon now represents 6% of sales, and they use Fulfillment by Amazon for the majority of those shipments.
To enlarge their customer base, the company’s approach to marketing has been multidimensional. They run PPC ads on Google and Bing, and they have built up a significant email database of 14,000+ subscribers which they employ for marketing purposes.
The company has truly excelled at social media marketing. They now have 30,000+ followers on Facebook and run frequent ads on that site and on Instagram, which includes a video introduction to the brand and its product line. This has contributed to the steady them 40,000+ monthly visitors across their websites.
The company recently began testing an affiliate program with one of the brands. The brand’s first affiliate was able to generate $83,000 in sales in the last 8 months. Their affiliates get a 5% referral commission on each sale.
The business also has an active SEO program that includes use of keywords in product descriptions and an educational and informative blog postings on their websites.
This has become a very lucrative business with an expanding customer base, but it has some clear opportunities for scale. One obvious, immediate growth opportunity is to expand the SKU assortment by launching new products, including in adjacent verticals. The company now has 4 new products in the R&D stage that can be launched as soon as spring 2022.
The brand could also expand its presence on Amazon, while also putting listings on secondary eCommerce sites (which they have already approved access to) such as Walmart and Wayfair, which would significantly boost sales as their proprietary products become available to a much wider audience.
