Results of the 2023 PETS+ Big Survey go live Tuesday here on petsplusmag.com! Get pumped for the big reveal with this sneak peek at how respondents answered two questions about margin, with online-only analysis and advice from Pet Boss Nation‘s Candace D’Agnolo.
What was your overall margin on food in 2022?
| 30% or less |
|
29%
|
| 31-33% |
|
25%
|
| 34-35% |
|
14%
|
| 36-40% |
|
5%
|
| >40% |
|
4%
|
| I don’t calculate/track this. |
|
8%
|
| N/A |
|
15%
|
The high percentage of you selling at the lower margins indicates an attempt to compete on price with ecommerce, which D’Agnolo advises against: “You’ll never be the cheapest place to get something and shouldn’t be. There are lots of opportunities to play with your margins within the food category. One big one is to increase the margin on smaller bags or hard-to-find lines and go down gradually as the weight goes up. It may not work on every line of food you sell, but certainly worth a try!”
What was your overall margin on products other than food in 2022?
| 40% or less |
|
10%
|
| 41-45% |
|
9%
|
| 46-49% |
|
19%
|
| 50-53% |
|
28%
|
| 54-59% |
|
13%
|
| 60% or more |
|
9%
|
| I don’t calculate/track this. |
|
7%
|
| N/A |
|
5%
|
D’Agnolo says, “I recommend pet stores who carry food to try for a 50/50 revenue split between food and non-food sales. This is so the retailer has the opportunity to have at least half of their revenue coming from higher-margin items to bring in more profit. What these survey results show is that half of the respondents may sell a lot of non-food, but they are missing the opportunity for more profit to be made.”
She offers this advice: “Play around with your pricing strategy within your bestselling department or choose a few vendors to start with. See if any customers notice the price increase. A $1 increase is likely to go unnoticed by your customer, but across all your SKUs and customers, it will make a huge impact on your bottom line over time.”
About the 2023 PETS+ Big Survey: Nearly 500 independent pet retailers and service providers from across the U.S. and Canada answered 68 questions across five categories. They shared everything from how their businesses are performing to their preferred “driving” styles at trade shows to how they are finding and keeping top team members. Speaking of teams, the 2023 Big Survey was a group effort. Editor-in-Chief Pamela Mitchell, Group Managing Editor Chris Burslem, Group Design Editor Victor Cantal and Contributing Editor Candace D’Agnolo took it over the finish line together. The American Pet Products Association also played an important part, fueling the survey as sponsor for a second year in a row.
