In an era where 62 percent of Americans own pets, and the majority view their pets as members of the family, it follows that a dog kennel should be a fairly successful business model. However, the success of a dog kennel is contingent on many factors, including the size of the town you live in and the amount of competition in your area. Smaller towns inevitably have slower economies, making it challenging for kennels to stay open year-round. For larger cities, there are often so many dog kennels to choose from, it can be a constant challenge to compete. Here are some tips to improve the revenue of your dog kennel, no matter the challenges you face in the industry.
- Find Your Niche
Your niche is dogs, right? Well, yes, but you can actually hone in on that niche even more to create a better business strategy. If your business is in a small town, then it may be ideal to cater to as many different types of dogs and pet owners as possible. However, for big city dog kennels, you’ll have a lot of competition, and you need to distinguish yourself from competitors in every way possible.
That could mean offering a dog kennel specific to small dogs, so owners are confident their dogs will only be paired with the most suitable playmate. You could opt to cater to cats as well, offering a cat palace that’s separate from the dog kennel. Additionally, consider the income bracket you want to cater to, and whether it would be more economically viable to cater to lower paying clients, or to set up a luxury boarding facility for top paying customers.
- Extend Your Service Offerings
When operating a dog kennel, you’ll have busy times of year and slow times of year, with summertime and holidays often bringing you the greatest amount of service. By extending your service offerings, you can bring in more sales during slow times, while squeezing the most sales out of every additional customer. Some additional services could include:
- Cat boarding services
- Dog walking services
- Grooming services
- Dog training services
Grooming, training, and walking are three services that are relevant at all times of year, so you can increase sales year-round, even when business is slow. You can also have add-on services for dog boarding to provide more value to customers. Examples could include one-on-one play sessions for dogs, individual training while you’re away, special snacks, or field trips to local hiking trails and parks.
- Keep Overhead Costs to a Minimum
The key to maintaining healthy revenue is by ensuring overhead costs are kept low, so you can gain more recurring profit from your business model. Consider all of the daily supplies needed to operate a dog kennel. You have dog food and snacks, bedding, toys, grooming supplies, first-aid supplies, cleaning supplies, etc. Since all of these are needed regularly, you need to ensure you’re getting the best value possible from your wholesale supplier. To determine the value, consider not only the cost per item, but also the amount of time it holds up before needing to be replaced.
At DollarDays, we provide only the highest quality pet supplies available to ensure they’ll withstand even the toughest wear and tear. At incredible wholesale prices, our bulk packages can provide your dog kennel with the cheap and quality supplies needed to ensure overhead costs remain low. Browse our pet supplies today and start shopping!