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2024Running a pet store is an enriching experience, where every interaction counts, especially when supported by the right point of sale software and eCommerce platform.
From greeting customers in-store to understanding their pets’ needs, it’s a rewarding journey that’s made easier with the right technology in place. But that’s inside the walls of your physical brick-and-mortar pet shop.
How do you convey that same in-store experience to customers visiting your eCommerce pet store website? Are specific products simple to find? When they hit the checkout screen, are online payments easy to utilize and points to redeem?
Operating a pet business can be great, but how can pet stores execute a successful eCommerce strategy to stay competitive?
Offering a unified shopping experience may sound somewhat challenging. But at its core, it simply means acknowledging that customers often start their shopping experience online and visit the store to finish the journey.
Utilizing an integrated eCommerce system means data between your store and website are connected. When customers see an item that shows as in-stock online, their expectation is that it is available to purchase, either online or if they chose to visit your store.
Pet retailers should also offer a variety of purchase options, beyond just your standard shipping methods. These include 4 big ones:
When offering curbside pickup, your POS software and eCommerce platform might offer a streamlined communication app enabling automated text messaging between your store staff and your customer, making it easier and eliminating the need for phone calls back and forth.
Then, regardless of how they pickup the order, make it easier for your customers to make larger purchases with buy now, pay later options!
At both your POS station and your eCommerce checkout screen, if pet stores are set-up for it, they can offer different payment options that take advantage of installments or ‘buy now, pay later’ financing. As the retailer, you will get paid in full within 24 hours, but your customers have the flexibility to pay over time, either pay-in-4 or longer terms with or without APR.
Pet stores can take advantage of providers like Klarna, Credova, Sezzle and Affirm to make the easier payment options available.
Another considerable benefit of utilizing all-in-one retail software integrations is that store and business data is easily accessible at the click of a button. Employees can quickly pull up register transactions, inventory numbers, customer checkout choices and rewards, and labor numbers.
These days, most retailers send out promotional emails. But are you sending mass emails to all of your customers and hoping for the best using the classic ‘spray and pray’ approach?
Consider how much more effective email campaigns can be if you send personalized emails based on your customers’ past purchases and brand preferences.
In fact, email marketing is the most cost effective form of marketing, yet less than 30% of retailers actually personalize their emails.
Watch how personalized emails can deliver 6x higher transaction rates!
Examples of personalized emails that send based on automated triggers in the point of sale software:
| Email Type | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Abandoned Cart | Shows the customer the products they added to their digital shopping cart but never finished the purchase. This encourages them to finish the purchase. |
| Previously Viewed Item | Enticing the customer’s interest in a product they were looking at but didn’t add to their digital cart. |
| Membership Welcome | Confirm to the customer that their information is in the rewards program, and they can start accruing points. |
| Rewards Reminders | Periodic reminder emails that send to your customers who are enrolled in rewards programs that gives them a polite reminder about points they can redeem. |
| Product Review | After buying a product, an email (based on a determined time frame) asks the customer to leave a review, automatically linking directly to the product website page of the item the retail system knows they purchased. |
| Top Spender | Sends email reminders to top spending-customers who may not have visited the pet store eCommerce recently and encourages new purchases. |
When you are using a connected system, your point of sale and eCommerce data is all consolidated and it becomes easy to instantly send emails based on all of these important data points.
It is also important to note that when you send targeted, meaningful emails that are meant for each recipient, you naturally lower the unsubscribe rates, raise open rates, and get more conversions.
What if we told you there was a way to be in the pocket of customers on an almost 24/7 basis?
There is an easy way- launching your own mobile shopping app for customers to download!
While most retailers are already stretched thin and have limited time, you might be thinking how can I ever add yet another sales channel to my pet business? But with the right retail software provider, you can easily add a mobile app without too much additional effort.
What’s even better- with an all-in-one retail system, you can make your product and pricing updates in one, central place, to then instantly update ALL of your sales channels at once, including your website and your retail app.
What pet store retailers might not even think of, is that when you have your customers download your new mobile app, you can then start marketing to them in an entirely new way! You can send practically any message or promotional offer whenever you want, via push notifications directly to their phones.
The best part: those marketing messages won’t get blocked by typical email spam filters!
Benefits that a mobile shopping app displaying your branding can bring:
Since email marketing is becoming more challenging to even reach your customers’ inboxes without being marked as Spam or going to junk folders, push notifications via mobile shopping apps opens a new avenue to reach your customers.
When pet stores lean on other major brand’s websites to push their products, they can drastically expand their reach. Making this possible is the brand recognition and the tremendous SEO value that larger brands have, which put the pet business in front of many more potential customers searching for a specific product.
Let’s look at Locally as an example. Locally enables customers searching for a specific product to view its availability not only on the product’s brand website but also at various local pet retailers’ stores that are already approved retailers selling their brand in-store.
This means that customers can easily see where the product is in stock and opt for same-day pickup if desired. Once the purchase is made, the pet store’s point of sale system seamlessly retrieves the order from the brand website and processes it, providing a convenient and efficient shopping experience for customers.
This scenario is a win/win/win for all parties involved:
Before delving into specific features, it’s crucial to recognize that modern point of sale software for pet retail stores goes beyond simple transaction processing and inventory tracking.
It’s about enhancing efficiency, saving time, and driving sales through tailored features and integrations designed specifically for the pet industry.
| Retail Software Type | Benefit to Pet Stores |
|---|---|
| Pet Supplier Integrations | Automate inventory ordering by integrating with pet suppliers, ensuring products are always in stock. |
| Astro Integration | Seamlessly coordinate manufacturer rebates and loyalty rewards with an integration to Astro Loyalty, and eliminate having to update and maintain two systems. |
| Auto-ship for Subscriptions | Enable customers to subscribe to regular shipments of products like food and medicine for convenience and recurring revenue. |
| Buy Now, Pay Later | Attract more customers and increase sales by offering flexible payment options, catering to a wider range of budgets and preferences. |
By leveraging these integrations and features, pet retail stores can optimize their operations, enhance the customer experience, and ultimately drive growth and profitability.
As technology evolves, pet retailers must stay on the lookout for the latest developments. This will keep them competitive and ahead of the technology curve.
Utilizing a robust eCommerce strategy means they can reliably get their products in front of customers and use digital marketing strategies that will reliably land in inboxes. They can watch their conversion rates climb when they pair it with offers and promotions that make sense.
To achieve all of this, businesses within the pet industry need to partner with a reliable technology provider that offers options to help them succeed. Whether it’s something simple like a template eCommerce website or an eCommerce website with custom designs, having the right tools is a necessity.
Celerant provides all the tools that pet retailers of any size need to succeed.
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