4 Marketing Strategies For Emerging Pet eCommerce Businesses

The pet industry is thriving. As a modern-day entrepreneur with a popular eCommerce store, there has never been a better opportunity to take advantage of the pet industry’s latest trends. Just process the following facts. According to the 2019-2020 national pet owners survey conducted by the American Pet Products Association (APPA), 67% of US households own a pet. This burgeoning market presents a unique opportunity for emerging pet eCommerce businesses to carve out a niche and capture the loyalty of pet enthusiasts.

That’s approximately 85 million families. In the UK, Rested Paws confirms the number of British households with pets has gone up to 12 million due to the coronavirus pandemic. The community of pet owners has been progressing at a constant rate for the last 30+ years. Consequently, the total sales affiliated to the pet market have been steadily increasing as well, as the pet industry expenditure in the US is ready to reach a staggering $99 billion in 2020.

With such intense competition among the online retailers of pet food, care, and supplies, how can you leave your mark and make a well-known brand out of your eCommerce store? Well, as an eCommerce entrepreneur, you’ve probably already learned a ton about how marketing is crucial when developing an emerging eCommerce business, and the booming pet industry makes no exception. Like all other niche businesses, pet eCommerce websites have their own set of marketing strategies, content techniques, and a range of niche-related business decisions that can benefit and grow their business. 

Even if your products are outstanding and superior compared to your biggest competitors’ products, you can’t survive in the business without an effective and long-lasting marketing strategy. Since pet eCommerce stores are a distinctive and unique category, know that a simple cookie-cutter marketing plan won’t get the job done, and you risk that nobody will learn about what you’re offering. That said, we’ve compiled a list of the top four marketing strategies for your emerging pet eCommerce store.

Grow Your eCommerce Revenue With Social Media

Your pet eCommerce business can’t survive a day in today’s age without an active presence on different social media platforms. In today’s age, every business needs to be using social media for marketing purposes, but brands that sell pet products have an unfair advantage when it comes to this strategy. Why? Well, people love to see posts associated with pets on social media.

Social media content related to pets will increase people’s chances of following your account and engaging with your posts. Higher engagement rates will ultimately boost your brand awareness and translate into higher conversions on your eCommerce site.

Utilize your social media accounts to help customers, both new and returning, learn about your new products to benefit them in different ways. Try targeting customers who are stuck at home with their pets and are trying to work. How can you keep that dog engaged, occupied, active, and even behaved? Utilize social media to promote these kinds of products, for the reasons mentioned above, and stay relevant. Your social media content should encompass learning about the product and its multiple applications. 

Besides, product discovery remains to increase on social media. According to a study by Curalate, 82% of consumers said they had discovered a product they were interested in buying on social media. Social media marketing is vital to any emerging pet eCommerce business.

Paid Ads on Social Media

Unfortunately, it isn’t straightforward these days to spread your business’s content organically on social media because Facebook and other media platform’s algorithms make it more challenging for companies unless they pay for it. 

It’s best to spend a couple of dollars promoting your content on social media. In fact, costs per conversion and reach have steadily gone up over time, which speaks volumes about this marketing method and strategy’s effectiveness. 

If your pet eStore is active and has a marketing budget, don’t hesitate to take advantage of this ultra-efficient marketing strategy. Test the waters by putting just $10 behind a post with a substantial reach and engagement results organically, and watch the clicks, and sales come in. Paid ads on social media can be powerful, so the trade-off is certainly there and can be worth it.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is another crucial marketing strategy for pet eCommerce businesses that are locked in to maximize their revenue and are willing to differentiate themselves from numerous competitors. Once you navigate your clients from your different marketing channels onto your website or eCommerce platform, you can certainly encourage them to subscribe to your email list and even create an email newsletter that will drive sales further down the line if they don’t convert the first time around.

It doesn’t matter if the email subscriber is a past or future buyer, you can always educate your potential clients about your products via email to stay engaged with them. Email subscription programs are profound marketing strategies that can build a community around your brand and lead to multiple sales down the line. From welcome posts to post-purchase messages, make sure that your email messages speak volumes about your brand and provide value to your client’s stage in the customer journey.

Loyalty Is Golden

One of the most significant advantages of selling products within the pet industry is that pet owners repeat purchases. A dog might wreck its toy and need a new one, and cats might run out of their litter and need a brand-new bag. Due to the repeatable nature of your pet business, there is an exceptional opportunity to lure clients into using your eStore on multiple occasions through loyalty programs. 

You can develop a loyalty strategy and offer a VIP loyalty membership for shoppers to use or encourage pet owners to permit their pets to demolish their toys, document the process, and win some rewards or points within your shop. This is a highly effective marketing strategy that adds a sense of gamification to the whole process. 

Loyalty programs are very productive since they show your clients that you’re keen to give back. Your clients are more likely to continue spending their money in your eCommerce store if they know that their acquisitions lead to points that they can use and other rewards.

Final Words

Pet owners are happy and willing to spend money on their beloved pets, providing you with a dazzling opportunity to market your pet eCommerce business in such a way that entices people to your store, generates sales, and keeps loyal customers coming back again and again for more. In this short article, we’ve looked at four profound marketing strategies that can go a long way to increasing your eCommerce pet business’s success rate.