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Small Animals are a Pet Store’s Main Attraction
Mice are nice. Cavies are cuddly. And bunnies are fun and fundamental. But let’s face furry facts: hamsters and gerbils serve as essential staples for most pet stores that offer a small animal set. And it’s easy to see why— they’re adorably compact, soft and gentle and represent an inexpensive starter pet for many families […]
Welcome to Treat Street
The Golden Rule is to treat others as you would wish to be treated. But the golden rule of small animal ownership is to treat your pets to treats more often. Or, at least it should be, because let’s face it: life is short, and even if you don’t believe in eating dessert first, serving […]
Ferrets: Furry and Fun
The craze that made them household name critters may have died down from a few years ago, and they might not sell as solidly today as other small mammals in your store. But make no mistake: when it comes to cute and cuddly, few animals compete for a patron’s attention quite like the fur-tastically fetching […]
Crunch Time for Small Animals
Here’s some food for thought: Consumers are no longer content with the fast-snatch grab-and-go approach to small animal food shopping. Today, they care about the contents, and they’ll spend more time in your store reading the label on a package of edibles, according to the experts. That makes it all the more important to carefully […]
High-Energy Retailing
Back in 2009, Disney had the foresight to tap into the snowballing small animal ownership craze when it released the live action 3-D film “G-Force.” The movie’s heroes—we are talking guinea pigs, hamsters, moles and other CGI-animated mammals—escape from their cage to save the world from a dastardly evil with the help of high-tech exercise balls. The flick may not have broken [...]
Exotic, Not Quixotic
Variety is the spice of life, they say. It’s a big reason that saffron, sumac, serrano chilies and epazote, despite being rare and lesser known, are highly coveted seasonings among fine cuisine aficionados. And it also helps explain the irresistible allure of exotic small animals, like sugar gliders, prairie dogs, degus, hedgehogs, chinchillas and kinkajous—out-of-the-ordinary […]
All About That Base
Today’s pet retailers can’t afford to roll out of bed late—or roll only partway into the small animal bedding subcategory, for that matter. That’s because pet owners are increasingly aware of the plethora of substrates crowding the market and are clamoring for greater variety in the products with which they choose to line their cage […]
Small Animal Abodes
The days of the all-purpose aquarium serving as a surrogate for a proper pet rodent residence are long gone. So is the era of the flimsy plastic domicile that functioned more as a disposable chew toy that could be gnawed through faster than you can say “chinchilla.” Indeed, the good news in 2017 is that […]
Chew and Improved
Here’s a thought that should gnaw away at any impulse to ignore the small animal accessories sub-segment: mini mammals like to incessantly munch, and for many species—including guinea pigs, chinchillas and lagomorphs like rabbits—the all-important front incisors continuously grow and require filing down via chewing. And therein lies a golden opportunity to position your store […]
A Real Crowd Pleaser
Hamsters, mice and cavies may rule the small animal roost at pet stores, but smart retailers should think about expanding their inventory to accommodate another soft and cuddly critter: the chinchilla, a love-at-first-sight pet many of your patrons will find irresistible. Consider the pros: chinchillas enjoy a longer lifespan (up to 15 years) than many […]
Hare-Brained Schemes
Rabbits are known for a lot more than just making lots of little rabbits. They’re also good at making smiles appear on the faces of store customers. Perhaps it’s the ultra-soft fur that feels velvety smooth to the fingertips, the adorably long ears and button eyes or the bountiful bulk—captive bunnies are, after all, larger […]
Small Pet, Big Smell
Want to ensure that your pet store appeals to both the olfactory organ and your patrons’ yearn for a fresh and clean cage? The pros have a few tips on what SKUs (stock keeping units) best eradicate the PUs (the shortened version of “puteo,” which is Latin for “to smell bad”). From aromatic bedding and […]
