DOGS PROVIDE UNCONDITIONAL love and companionship. They also can present challenges that pet parents must overcome, from house-training to destructiveness to a lack of leash and other manners.
Paws on Main offers assistance — with product packages, plus referrals to its sister business, A Place for Paws dog day care and training facility.
THE IDEA
Bundle by Problem
Dani Edgerton founded A Place for Paws in 1999. In 2017, she purchased Paws on Main, a retail store just minutes away. It gave her room to stock and sell personally recommended products for common pet health and behavioral issues.
In 2019, Edgerton took her recommendations to the next level after adopting WhizBang! Retail Training’s Retail Mastery System.
“It talked about bundling to upsell,” she says.
Advertisement
Edgerton created the New Puppy package, as well as Super Chewer and Training for dogs of all ages, with each one outlined on a card with a product checklist on front and training tips on back. She includes touts for A Place for Paws services on both sides.
Per WhizBang!, prices are not discounted. The card simply lists total cost per size of dog.
THE EXECUTION
Provide Focus with Flexibility
Edgerton created the package cards herself. They sit in a Peanuts-inspired holder at the register, within easy reach for staff who are asking customers how they can help.
Pet parents do not have to buy everything on a checklist, which happens regularly with the New Puppy package. “We ring everything up separately anyway,” Edgerton explains. “The card just gives them a guide as they’re walking around the store. Customers will say, ‘I need this and this, but I already have a crate.’”
Advertisement
Just as pet parents appreciate the flexibility, so does she. It allows her to regularly change the packages. Edgerton may want to introduce a new toy or take away a product not selling well.
“There may be something that we as trainers know is important, but for whatever reason customers don’t want to use. We had Bitter Apple in Super Chewer, but found that they didn’t like the idea or didn’t think they needed it. In that case, it made them less interested in the package as a whole, so we took it out.”
THE RESULTS
Boost in Sales & Referrals
With the packages, Edgerton says, “The average per sale is higher — double or more because of the suggestions, all coming from experts.”
The cards also create a beneficial loop with A Place for Paws. New Puppy includes an invite to the free bi-monthly Puppy Quick Start class. Super Chewer touts its day care as a way to combat destructiveness. And Training outlines the various training programs.
Once pet parents take the free puppy class, Edgerton says, 85 percent sign up for a training program and return to Paws on Main.
“All of those clients come back to the store. It’s a given that they’ll be back.”
