24A – Venture Concept No. 2

Opportunity:

·       Pet owners see their canine companions as part of the family, always looking for ways to keep them healthy and happy. Many pet owners ascertain that a pet’s diet is a crucial part of their dog’s well-being but may find it difficult to choose the right food for their pet.

·       There are many dog food options currently on the market promising quality ingredients with wholesome nutrients. Most of these options are kibble. However, a controlled study in Belgium used data from 500 domestic dogs and concluded that “dogs fed a homemade diet, consisting of high-quality foods used from their owner’s meals versus dog fed an industrial, commercial pet food diet had a life expectancy of [3 years longer.]

·       There are very few options currently available for pet owners looking to feed their pet fresh food. The options that are available can be pricey and require going through an online platform to have the food sent to their homes.

·       Locally, there is a lack of options to purchase fresh dog food, so owners are faced with few options for purchasing.  

·       The forces that allow this to occur are the lack of knowledge on the positive effects fresh food diets offer to a dog’s health, as well as strong competition from established dog food companies that maintain a good part of the market share.

·       The current options dog owners choose to satisfy their need for fresh food is through companies like the Farmer’s Dog and Ollie, which offer fresh food delivered to their homes. Because there are few competitors in the fresh food market, there is a great deal of opportunity for a new venture. Many of these companies are relatively new, and therefore customers may not yet experience high levels of loyalty to them which will make it easier to take some of their market share. 

Innovation:

·      I will sell fresh dog food containing veterinary approved levels of proteins and nutrients. The product will be sold locally in Coral Springs, FL. Our clients will come into a boutique style store which sells other pet products such as toys and treats and are able to customize their dog’s meal plan.

·                            We will also launch a website that offers the products online. Of course, shipping would add                an additional cost. Through a partnership with Fedex, we hope to lower this cost (shipping                  refrigerated materials can be especially costly.

·     With the help of a team of animal nutritionists and veterinarians, we will use an algorithm that considers factors such as weight, size, and activity levels to customize each pet’s meal plan. The price of these meal plans can be as low as $3/day for small dogs and $8/day for larger sized breeds. We will charge for weekly orders only through the online portal, but offer more flexibility when purchased in store. These price points were calculated using an average of the prices set by established companies within the same segment.

Owners will choose when they would like to pick up their orders and how much they would like to pick up so they can refrigerate/freeze the rest. When purchasing online, they can choose when they would like their order delivered and set a schedule of biweekly or monthly deliveries. They will be able to delay deliveries, change, or cancel directly on the online portal.

·    Our store will be pet friendly. It will not only be a place where dog owners buy their pet’s food, but it will also be a fun place for their dogs to interact with others and play around.

Venture Concept: 

·       Customers will switch to this product because they will see the value in choosing fresh food for their pet. Our advertising campaign will focus on educating potential customers on the benefits of changing their dog’s food. Our food will also attract pet owners of finicky dogs, or dogs with sensitive stomachs that require fresh food diets.

·       As stated previously, our main segment competitors are other fresh food companies. Their possible weakness is their young age and the fact that the fresh food option has not been there for very long.

·       Packaging: we will use reusable containers that pet owners will bring into the store to get refilled. This will cut the cost of disposable packaging and will position us as environmentally friendly in the mind of customers.

      This strategy cannot be used with online purchases, so in that case our goal is to use the most minimal amount of packaging material to 1. Save costs and 2. Reduce waste to the environment.

·       Price point: because we are providing a service that does not require shipping and handling, we are able to offer a lower price point than others.

      When it comes to online orders, however, it will be harder to compete on cost structure because of the higher costs of shipping and handling. Strong and successful marketing will set us apart from competitors. 

·       Distribution: we offer the dog food locally, so we will not fully rely on 3^rd party shipping companies to handle our product at all.

·       Customer support: our clients will not have long wait times when they call us. We can provide support one on one without long holds.

·       Customer experience/location: our dog friendly facility will be unique and will make us stand out from competitors. Our customers can drive to our store and bring their dogs with them to share the experience with them.

·       Our business will be comprised of a small team offering customer service and assistance at the front desk. We will also hire less skilled labor to actually cook our food, which we will store in the back of the store in a commercial sized fridge. The food will be cooked twice a week to keep up with demand and to ensure that it is fresh when it is leaving the store.

Our most important resource is our location. Competitors cannot duplicate this aspect of our business. If we position ourselves in a way where we attract local customers and achieve their loyalty, our competitors cannot easily mimic our design.

Our next venture is the production of cat food. Creating this food will use the same resources we have established, and it will be easier to grow with it.

I would want this venture to branch out to other cities in the U.S. It would be great to either franchise the idea or sell it so that others can mimic it.

Feedback:

On my last venture concept, I received some feedback which I used to update my new venture concept. Someone pointed out that I would be losing out on online sales by not offering them at all. I decided that investing on a strong online presence is also very important to our business and therefore I implemented an online platform as well.

Someone else pointed out that the food prices were expensive. I used an average of existing competitors price points to come up with the pricing model. Our target market are people with the disposable income available to pay a little more for their dog’s meals.

As for the comment regarding the location being limited to only one city, we hope that our store branches out to other cities. However, our starting location will be coral springs. Once we have the capital and know-how to invest further and if our store is successful, we will branch out as much as possible.