So you’ve decided to go the extra mile and set up an online pet store. Congrats! You’re one step closer to taking care of your pets and making some money at the same time. But if you want to see your online pet store succeed, you need to avoid common marketing mistakes.

Find Your Niche

The first thing you need to do if you’re creating an online store is to figure out what type of pet store you want to open. Do you want to sell only designer pet accessories? Or do you want to focus on a specific breed of dog? It’s important to figure out your niche before you start churning out product descriptions and pricing tables. When you do, you’ll know exactly what type of customer you’re trying to attract and how you can price your products to entice them to click “Add to Cart.”

For example, if you’re selling designer dog collars, it’s likely your customers will be dog owners who want to dress their dogs in the latest fashions. So it’s a safe bet that you’ll need to stock a variety of trendy collar designs.

Don’t Be Overly Optimistic

One of the biggest mistakes you can make as a new business owner is to be overly optimistic about your sales. Even if your pets are the blandest, cutest creatures who ever lived, you still have to take into account that not all of your customers are going to be as excited about your product as you are.

So, when you make a sales pitch, be prepared to negotiate. Your customers may tell you that they’re not interested in your product at all, but you need to be ready to walk away with a counteroffer.

Pricing Strategy

Another important thing to consider is your pricing strategy. You want to make sure that you’re not undercutting the competition too much, but you also don’t want to price your products so high that you scare away your customers. If you know that a similar product is sold for cheaper in another market, you can use that information to set your prices.

For example, if you know that designer dog collars are expensive in luxury dog boutiques but are actually quite affordable in flea markets and garage sales, you might want to raise your prices a little bit to make up for the discount.

Product Description

Along with your pricing, it’s important to describe your product in as much detail as possible. Even though you’ve only got a few items to offer, it’s still important to write a detailed description explaining what the customer will receive. When shopping for products online, you don’t have the benefit of being able to touch and try out the product before buying it. So make sure that your description does enough product advertising so that the customer knows what they’re buying.

Research The Product Before You Promote It

Above all else, make sure that you do your research before you promote or sell any products. The last thing you want to do is to wake up one day and find out that what you thought was a quality product, is actually junk. So, before you make any sales, do a little research and make sure that what you’re promoting isn’t prohibited or restricted by any governmental agencies.

Also, try to keep your product description and the information you give about the product as accurate as possible. Remember, you’re representing yourself as the expert on the subject matter, so make sure that everything is accurate. If you think that there’s an error on your part or on the part of the company you bought the product from, contact the manufacturer or store owner directly to get it fixed. Don’t think that customers are going to be forgiving about mistakes you or the company make, so be sure to correct them quickly and adequately. In this way, you’ll be ensuring customer loyalty and trust, as well as helping to increase sales.

Now, you may be wondering, “How do I get started with online pet store marketing?” Well, you can start small and take it step by step. First, create a blog for yourself (it can be about anything related to pets and animal welfare, but it’s wise to keep it general enough so that it’ll be useful to multiple audiences.) Then, start connecting with other bloggers and potential customers on social media. Finally, you can take it one step further and create a landing page where interested parties can learn more about your business and can place an order if they’re ready.

With a little patience and good judgment, you can put yourself in the perfect spot to succeed as an online pet store marketer. And remember, it’s never easy starting a business, but it’s a whole lot easier being successful. So, go out there and earn those sweet pitter-pats!