By Lori Luechtefeld
Running a small business is no picnic, and pet boutiques are certainly no exception. Potential stress points reside everywhere, from the macro issues affecting the economy to the particulars of staffing and customer management.
“There are always 101 problems to deal with,” says Gordon Solomons, owner of Captivating Canines in Westerville, Ohio. “You just don’t know what it will be from day to day.”
Economic Headaches
Like many small business owners, Solomons says he is feeling the pinch of the current economic meltdown.
“About the second week in October, I started seeing less bodies through the door and less money in the till,” he says. “So we’re trying to keep inventory levels as low as possible.”
He says if cash flow becomes a problem, he may also have to delay some purchases.
Lindsay Parish, owner of Paris Pups in Albuquerque, N.M., says her store is doing fairly well despite the economic downturn.
“The main pressure is that the cost of all our utilities will go up, and the cost of merchandise will go up,” she says.
To compensate, Parish says she adjusts her prices when needed and looks to offer a range of services.
“In tough times, a person may not pay $5 to get a collar washed, but they may pay $5 to get their dog’s teeth brushed,” she says.
In addition, Parish says, it’s important to continue advertising when the economy goes south.
“Even though you often don’t see an immediate return on advertising, you need to continue,” she says. “You may see a return on it several months later.”
Heidi Taiger, owner of Poochey Couture in Montreal, says the pervasive economic pressures that store owners are feeling in the United States haven’t weighed heavily on her business—at least not yet.
“I’m not blind to what’s happening in the rest of the world,” she says. “But we’ve just got to continue to try to retain our existing customers while attracting new ones.”
Staffing Stress
Although the economy isn’t currently putting pressure on her store, Taiger says running her business isn’t exactly a stress-free operation. Currently, the most worrying aspect of her day-to-day job is staffing.
Sometimes they don’t follow directions. Sometimes they show up late. And sometimes they don’t show up at all—and never come back, she says. Perhaps, she notes, that’s a side effect of Canada’s still relatively strong economy; people have their pick of jobs.
In any case, Taiger is doing what she can to manage the staffing stress. She posts job openings online in order to cast her net as broadly as possible. She checks references. And she provides in-depth new-hire training over a two-week period. Such training includes familiarizing employees with the products, educating them on how she wants customers to be approached and managed, and teaching them how to handle cash and multiple other administrative tasks.
Keeping Customers Happy
In addition to staff members, customers can bring their own stresses into a pet boutique. For example, Taiger says that her customers occasionally disagree with store policies. According to her store’s return policy, customers can exchange products or get store credit for a return, but she doesn’t provide cash back.
“Some people have a problem with that, so I handle those issues on a case-by-case basis,” she says. “I want to satisfy the customer, and sometimes an employee may say we can’t do something when we can,” she says. “So my employees can give a customer my cell phone number, or I can call them back later. Every customer is important, and I don’t want to lose one.”
Taiger notes that while her customers are generally easy to manage, their pets sometimes are not. Dealing with the occasional pet scuffle is just one more stress that comes with the territory of owning and operating a pet boutique.
To cope with this, Taiger sets up gated areas within the store that enable pets to easily be separated and contained while their owners shop. She notes that the gated areas provide the added benefit of allowing her to showcase her pet gate options, which helps to boost sales of such products.
Inventory Issues
Customers aside, Solomons says that inventory is one of his biggest day-to-day headaches. The issue is compounded by the fact that his store features breed-specific gifts.
“You can’t carry every product in every breed. So you just have to do the best you can. And you can always special-order.”
Parish agrees that managing inventory is a challenge.
“The big stress is trying to stay up to speed on the current styles and move merchandise before it goes out of style,” Parish says.
Thus, she looks to stock products that have received good feedback, as well as ones that she can prominently promote on her website and in her store.
“I want photos that I can post on the website and literature that I can hand out to customers,” she says. “It also helps if I can use it on my own pet in the store. That seems to attract much more attention than just a regular product display.”
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