Focus Group, your opinions wanted

[SumpinSpecial]

Hey, hello! I'm mulling over an idea for a brick and mortar pet supply shop - VERY long term thing - but I have what I think is a good idea but may not be practical. I would love everyone's opinions.

Say you're going to Petco to shop for things for your birdies. (Just picking Petco at random because everyone is familiar with them and they have a nationwide, consistent shop layout.) As you walk in, you notice that there is now a large open area near the dog products where customers and their pups are playing with the products. The point of the open area is to let the customers demonstrate, play with and ultimately decide whether or not they like the product enough to buy it. It's a fun and exciting area and people tend to spend some time there with their dogs. As you walk by in that moment, you notice that the customers in that area have four dogs in total, two of which are barking excitedly and there's lots of activity there.

Okay, questions:

1. First of all, do you bring your birds out of the house and into public places like pet stores?

2. Would you like to see a play/demo area for birds in the store, similar to the one for dogs?

3. Would it be a problem to walk your bird past the dog area to get to the bird area? Or problems walking your bird near any dogs at any time (like for instance the doorways)? Same for cats?

4. If you answered yes to question 3, would you prefer to see a protected entrance to the bird play/demo area so that you didn't have to walk your bird passed the predator species?

5. If the store went all the way with separate entrances for each species group (dogs, cats, birds, small pets) would that just be really too confusing so you'd avoid the store altogether? Or would it be better because you'd feel more comfortable bringing your pet to shop with you? (Assuming the entrances were well-signed, so you didn't accidentally walk in the wrong one! Eek!)

Any other thoughts are welcome also.

 

[finchly]

I have smaller dogs, and my experience with them is that people at Petco, PetSmart etc let their bigger, ,untrained dogs jump on mine in the store. This has happened more than once and the owners are unapologetic and in one case thought it was funny.

For that reason I'd be very hesitant to take a bird into a store. What if the dogs were bird dogs? That'd be scary. Separate entrances? Might work.

Where are you in Va.?

 

[Mizzely]

1. I do not take mine to petstores etc because too many people don't vet their birds and could have communicable diseases.

2. Since some of the big diseases (PBFD) can live on surfaces for a year, I would not want my bird to play with a toy that another bird had been playing with without knowing their health history.

3. Depends on if my bird is in a carrier or on a harness. On a harness I would be very hesitant.

4. Yes, and alao because there would need to be a double entry anyways in case of escapees IMO.

5. my vet has separate entrances and it works well.

 

[JLcribber]

1. I do not take mine to petstores etc because too many people don't vet their birds and could have communicable diseases.

2. Since some of the big diseases (PBFD) can live on surfaces for a year, I would not want my bird to play with a toy that another bird had been playing with without knowing their health history.

3. Depends on if my bird is in a carrier or on a harness. On a harness I would be very hesitant.

4. Yes, and alao because there would need to be a double entry anyways in case of escapees IMO.

5. my vet has separate entrances and it works well.

Pretty much the same answers.

From a business perspective. I can see you spending a lot of money to set this all up. That means you need quite a volume of customers to make it viable. I don't see it happening.

As a long time bird owner, I don't take my birds where they can mingle with others. Simply because birds don't just get along (like most dogs) with others and the risks are just too high. My 2 cents

 

[Hankmacaw]

I don't think that you will find many people on this forum who would take their bird into a pet shop. There are just too many potentials for danger, the number one being other birds who may or may not be diseased that you are exposing your bird to. Stupid owners who may not know to keep their bird away from others and start a fight. I don't trust any dog and the thought of having my macaw in a building where there are loose dogs gives me nightmares.

 

[sunnysmom]

As others said, I wouldn't risk my bird being around other birds I don't know with the danger of disease, etc and wouldn't let him play in a play area that other birds had been in. I also wouldn't take my bird in an area where there were cats and dogs.

 

[Distaff]

Way too many downsides for taking birds out in public like that. I don't see the point of it at all. Also, I don't want to buy a toy for my pet that other customers may have let their pet try out.

 

[Distaff]

As an aside, I've noticed a lot of dairies, poultry operations, breeding facilities for what ever, are "Closed," as in No Visitors allowed. We recently contacted a CraigsList budgie breeder, and we didn't get beyond the foyer of his front door. He had two selected birds in a cage waiting for us at the door. We could purchase or not, but weren't invited in to view any others. I don't blame him.

 

[finchly]

My facility is often closed as well! About a year ago a discussion on a different forum centered around a breeder letting the buyer catch his own finch from the cage (so he could feel the keel bone, to determine whether it was going light). I said I would never let a buyer catch their own bird -- for many reasons. One guy kept on and on at me about it. My viewpoint will not change; I'm in charge of my flock's health and well being.

 

[SumpinSpecial]

Okay, thanks everyone. I'd forgotten about the contagion issue and I absolutely don't want my customer's birds getting sick because of me. So this isn't a good idea.

What I'm trying to go for is to make my future shop an experience. You don't just go to buy things because you can buy the same things elsewhere (Amazon, amirite?). So looking for some way to set my shop apart from all the rest, make it a place where people want to come to. The idea works great for dogs, not so much for other pets. Do you guys want to think outside the box with me for the bird products? What would entice you to come to a particular shop for bird toys and things? If there were three different stores in your area selling bird products, why would you pick one over the others?

 

[JLcribber]

You're absolutely spot on about making a brick and mortar store an experience. That is the future of actual shopping. The problem being you're just selling bird products and brick and mortar stores are a dying thing. You will never be able to compete with the low margins that online retailers are able to achieve on simple products.

As far as the experience. I would look toward education. As in holding events for like minded bird people like husbandry, behaviour, Illness, medicine, training etc. What you need to build is "community" and they will help guide your way. Give them what they need/want besides products and they will come back.

 

[Shyra]

As John pointed out fewer and fewer people are buying bird supplies from brick and mortar stores. Even on here when someone opens a new online store one of the first questions asked is "Do you allow your birds near the toys or parts while you are making/storing them. They do not want anything near their birds that has been near another bird period. I like to go into pet stores that have critters for sale and small birds but only buy food items from them when I'm desparate which hardly ever happens. Mostly because I know I can find it cheaper online which means I will have more money to put towards wood and other goodies for my birds. As for my dogs, I take them to get groomed at Petco but they never go into other areas of the store because I don't know what other people's pets have been vaccinated for or like has been mentioned earlier how well trained their dogs are (mine are not trained that well) and do not wish to encounter additional vet bills. I just ordered my first bags of dog food online this week and considering how much I saved will continue to do so making the only thing I will buy from the pet stores now will be harnesses so I can make sure they fit and be easily returned if they don't. I like John's idea of offering education classes but I think you find you have more people like me coming to take the class but leaving empty handed.

 

[SumpinSpecial]

Okay, good feedback. Just to be clear, I'm not at all going to abandon my online shop. I will continue to run it in parallel with any brick and mortar shop that I open. Have two sales channels for the same store, if you're into retail lingo. Given that, perhaps I would sell more bird toys via the online channel and more dog and cat stuff from the B&M channel. Something to experiment with.

Also, for the playing-with-toys idea I am tossing around with the doggy customers, I wasn't at all thinking that the customers would be un-attended in that area like a free for all. That's a terrible liability for all the reasons you cite, not to mention I don't want bad dog owners making it a bad experience for other customers so they never come back. I was thinking that I would have trained staff to assist (but really, supervise), demonstrate the toys, answer questions and be sort of like a game coach.

I'm also wondering about some sort of concierge experience... but not an expensive one. I hate how so many concierge services (hotels, doctors) seem to cater only to rich clientele. I want mine to cater to everyone. If that's possible. I haven't looked into this at all yet. It's possible they only cater to the rich because it costs so much to offer that service. I'm skeptical about that, but will look into it.

 

[Shyra]

I have two Bichons so they are at the groomers every 8 weeks. Have you thought of maybe doing a grooming/day spa for dogs with also a store on the side? My one complaint with regular groomers is that the dogs end up spending a lot of time in those small crates plus don't get walked so I feel I have to rush to get back to them. Every now and then I would love to be able to leave them all day especially if I knew they would be pampered during that extra time.

 

[Mizzely]

I think it would be cool to do a service of some sort like chop making day or workshop, or make your own seed mixes, etc. Even if you just had some dry bulk bins so we could do that ourselves, that would be cool. I would also want unique bird toys available -not the same brands I can find at Petsmart and Petco. Real toys meant for real birds, not the "tiny but only an amazon or bigger can chew it" crap. And even if you didn't have a whole stock of cages, having a display model for us to look at and see and touch before we order one would be awesome.

 

[sunnysmom]

I liked John's suggestion about education. The parrot rescue I help with has classes multiple times a month and I always looking for a location. Maybe you could have classes, etc. And my guess is that people who come in for classes stay to shop. I also like homemade toys for birds and it's hard to find a place that sells good cages.

 

[Princessbella]

Hey, hello! I'm mulling over an idea for a brick and mortar pet supply shop - VERY long term thing - but I have what I think is a good idea but may not be practical. I would love everyone's opinions.

Say you're going to Petco to shop for things for your birdies. (Just picking Petco at random because everyone is familiar with them and they have a nationwide, consistent shop layout.) As you walk in, you notice that there is now a large open area near the dog products where customers and their pups are playing with the products. The point of the open area is to let the customers demonstrate, play with and ultimately decide whether or not they like the product enough to buy it. It's a fun and exciting area and people tend to spend some time there with their dogs. As you walk by in that moment, you notice that the customers in that area have four dogs in total, two of which are barking excitedly and there's lots of activity there.

Okay, questions:

1. First of all, do you bring your birds out of the house and into public places like pet stores?

2. Would you like to see a play/demo area for birds in the store, similar to the one for dogs?

3. Would it be a problem to walk your bird past the dog area to get to the bird area? Or problems walking your bird near any dogs at any time (like for instance the doorways)? Same for cats?

4. If you answered yes to question 3, would you prefer to see a protected entrance to the bird play/demo area so that you didn't have to walk your bird passed the predator species?

5. If the store went all the way with separate entrances for each species group (dogs, cats, birds, small pets) would that just be really too confusing so you'd avoid the store altogether? Or would it be better because you'd feel more comfortable bringing your pet to shop with you? (Assuming the entrances were well-signed, so you didn't accidentally walk in the wrong one! Eek!)

Any other thoughts are welcome also.

I have brought my bird into the local pet stores but only when I needed to go in when I've had her. The pet store that I go to doesn't have birds but has food and toys and Bella loves to be fawned over. But it is a very rare occurrence. I agree with the others that I wouldn't bring her in a place where there are other birds for health reasons. The main reason why I don't frequent pet stores is that Bella is a very picky eater and will only eat 2 kinds of food, Zupreem pellets and Goldenfeast petite legume blend. I have tried to get her to eat other things but she refuses. I can get the Zupreem pellets here but I have to go online to get the Goldenfeast because that pet store decided that bird supplies weren't profitable enough and stopped carrying it. The other problem is toys. When I go, all I see are toys for larger birds. This is why I am glad that I found this site. There are plenty of vendors here with interesting toys for tiels. For me to go into a pet store, I would love an area that represented all size birds and that had more than Zupreem or Kaytee, with fresh millet and plenty of toys for size birds. I think classes on behavior and food would be a great idea because people have no idea what to do with birds once they get them and I admit I was one of them.

 

[SumpinSpecial]

Great ideas! I know that local dog rescues are always looking for safe space to do adoption events or meet and greets, so I could section off a corner of the shop for bird rescues to do educational seminars or adoption events too. Love that idea most of all.

You remind me also, that I stopped selling cages because dropshipping them was not workable, but once I'm in a brick and mortar store maybe I could have some in inventory and sell them. I'll give that some thought.

And yes, the constant search for quality toys... Interactive toys seems to be where my "thing" might be heading, so it's worth always looking for suppliers of good stuff.

 

[Rolanda]

I have two Bichons so they are at the groomers every 8 weeks. Have you thought of maybe doing a grooming/day spa for dogs with also a store on the side? My one complaint with regular groomers is that the dogs end up spending a lot of time in those small crates plus don't get walked so I feel I have to rush to get back to them. Every now and then I would love to be able to leave them all day especially if I knew they would be pampered during that extra time.

When we take Mia, our MaltiPoo, for grooming I ALWAYS pay for the RUSH ROVER. She's in and out in under 2 hours. To me it's worth it for the additional $10 to not have her sitting in there all day.