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Utilizing the power of product personalization to secure long-term business growth in the pet retail landscape .
According to a report, the pet industry is expected to experience tremendous growth by 2030, almost tripling in size. Currently valued at $100 billion , the pet product segment is projected to reach $275 billion in value. This remarkable expansion is attributable to various factors, such as an influx of new pet owners, favorable demographics, and increased spending per pet.
The pet industry is a dynamic and diverse sector that encompasses an extensive array of products and services, ranging from pet food and veterinary care to grooming and boarding services, as well as pet accessories, clothing, and furniture for different types of domesticable animals. Dog products are consistently the top-selling pet items, given the worldwide popularity of dogs.
As the pet industry is poised to undergo significant growth in the coming years, businesses can leverage this trend to create thriving ventures and seize numerous opportunities. Product Personalization is one such opportunity that represents low-hanging fruit, ripe for the picking!
Product Personalization: An enticing business opportunity
Personalized pet products are a great niche to get into, especially with the right Web2Print solution for personalizing products integrated with your eCommerce. Web2Print allows for unique and customized products, which can be particularly appealing to owners who want to show off their furry friends in a personalized way. Everything from pet clothing, pet bedding, collars & leashes, pet accessories, pet memorials, and other best-selling pet products are available for your consumers' personalized designs.
Many Web2Print solution providers exist, but Mediaclip stands out as one of the best options for pet retailers to seamlessly integrate with their existing eCommerce workflows. Mediaclip's extensive production and fulfillment network offers a wide range of customizable pet products, like clothing, accessories, and memorial products, and enables retailers to ship worldwide without having to manage extra inventory. Mediaclip also offers the leading online designer that makes putting personal touches on products enjoyable and simple.
Adding personalization capabilities to your existing merchandise, or even introducing new types of customizable products is a great way to diversify your offering, carve your own competitive niche, and tap into the growing market of personalized products . Today's younger generations are especially drawn to customized products. However, The McKinsey Global Institute states that, although led by Millennials and Gen Z, consumers from all generational groups are eager to purchase personalized products.
Offer product personalization on items you already know well
Seeing as Millennials and Gen Z are the current leaders in pet ownership (or imminent pet ownership), this is a great chance to turn your best-selling pet products into revenue drivers and loyalty enhancers through your online channels. As an established pet retailer, you likely already sell essential products for pets like feeders, leashes, and more. These types of products are perfect for which you can offer personalization capabilities, enabling your consumers to add their own flare to otherwise mundane and mass-produced products.
With the printing industry's exploding ability to print on basically any material/surface, you can provide quality, practical, and uniquely stylish products to your consumers. Let's explore some items that you could immediately transform from high to super performers.
- Pet Bowls and other feeding items
If your consumers shop with your brand, they more than likely have a pet at home. And having a pet means they're being fed...in bowls or other types of feeders! As such, these are already popular items that can be enhanced for your consumers. By giving them the ability to creatively design feeding-related items that match their pet's personality, you're not only providing a clean way for pets to eat but giving owners a great way to highlight their pet's uniqueness and/or their feelings towards their animal . - Pet placemats
Pets like dogs and cats usually have a designated place in a home where they are fed; for cleanliness purposes, these spots are often marked by some sort of placemat. Why not give owners the ability to customize these placemats to match those feeders that they've already personalized? Or maybe they want to match the placemat to their home decor. Whatever the case may be, these items (that likely already exist in your feeding category) represent a great cross-sell opportunity to drive bigger basket sizes. - Pet leashes, collars, and harnesses
Dogs, being the most popular pet, drive pet retailers to sell many walking and safety items. By adding personalization capabilities to these essential products on your eCommerce channel, you can not only enable pet owners to keep their fur-baby safe but can also allow the owner and the pet to show off their individual branding and personalities (a notion that's quite important to the digitally social patrons). And let's not get it twisted...other pets like cats, bunnies, ferrets, etc. are often spotted with collars and leashes too, so your pool of potential buyers is not restricted to owners of merely the most popular pet species. - Pet ID tags
Even though digital tracking alternatives like microchipping are now the most popular way of ensuring the safe return of a lost pet, pet owners still opt for tags with their information on them to help finders easily contact them. Tags are also transitioning into a fashion accessory since their function is more auxiliary than necessary now. This is an opportunity to impress your consumers with personalization options on this product to create matching ensembles with their collars, leashes, and other accessories, and highlight themselves and their pets among the masses. - Pet bedding and pads
Bedding and cooling pads are a no-brainer for any owner to purchase for their pets, so they're likely a product category you offer. And they take up a certain amount of space in a home, that's for sure! So, why sell them in dull, generic colors and patterns that don't match the pet's personality or the owner's home decor? This is another great category in which you should consider offering personalization to win more business from your customers.
Boost your brand by keeping a diverse catalog of items
From small startups to the largest pet retailers in America, businesses are taking advantage of the growing trend of pet humanization to market novel products. That's why the opportunity for personalized products, although impressive for pet products already, is not limited just to those items. Let's take a look at a couple of umbrella categories that represent a great opportunity to diversify and expand your brand.
- Products for pet owners
Shoppers, especially Millennials are highly prone to purchase something for themselves while shopping for their animals. According to the Zulily survey, 83% of millennial pet owners have purchased dog- or cat-themed merchandise for themselves. Calendars and t-shirts/hoodies are the leading pet-themed products being sought out by Millennials. Following close behind are items like travel mugs, door signs or welcome mats, and wall art. - Pet memorial products
Pet memorialization has taken flight due to the "pet humanization" trend; people are looking for more ways than cremation services from their vet clinics to deal with their loss.
Offering pet memorial products is an excellent way to capture this growing consumer demand which is quite underserved. Naturally, memorial products have a personalization element to them. Consumers today are looking for custom-made urns, gravestones, photo frames, and other gifts to immortalize their pets in sentimental ways. With such a heightened demand for these products and not many options to choose from, this category presents not only a financially profitable undertaking for the business but also a much-appreciated offering in the eyes of consumers.
Product Personalization: benefits of this business opportunity
- Higher perceived value: Personalized products are often valued more highly by customers because they are unique and tailored to their preferences. (Source: Forbes )
- Increased customer loyalty: Offering personalized products can help build a stronger relationship between a customer and a brand, leading to increased loyalty and repeat business. (Source: Entrepreneur )
- Differentiation from competitors: Selling personalized products can help a brand stand out from competitors and create a unique selling proposition. (Source: Business News Daily )
- Higher profit margins: Customized products can often command a higher price point, leading to higher profit margins for businesses. (Source: Inc. )
- Enhanced customer experience: Personalization can help create a more positive and memorable customer experience, leading to increased customer satisfaction and word-of-mouth referrals. (Source: HubSpot )
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