We recently had the opportunity to speak with Hamed Ebrahimi, the Founder and CEO of Pet Friendly, located in Hilton, NY. Hamed has been an Endless Aisles Web Integration customer since 2017. We spoke with the CEO about his experience with Endless Aisles Web Integration and how it has changed the way that Pet Friendly does business.
Endless Aisles: Hi! Thank you so much for meeting with us to discuss Pet Friendly’s experience with Endless Aisles and sharing your success story! Can you tell us a little bit about Pet Friendly and what first got you interested in Endless Aisles?
Pet Friendly: Hi, happy to be here!
We opened our doors in September of 2007 with only 3,500 products and no services. Since then, we have grown our in-store inventory to include a variety of over 8,000 products, and have also added grooming, dog training, and doggie daycare. We also have one of the largest selections of freshwater fish in Upstate NY, with over 200 display tanks.
The only service that was missing in order for us to compete with the big box stores was e-commerce and the ability to ship nationwide. Endless Aisles seemed like the right source for us to have the opportunity to do just that, and to complete our product selection and services.
Endless Aisles: Has Endless Aisles Web Integration changed the way you do business?
Pet Friendly: Yes. It has given us the opportunity to sell products we could not obtain from our distributors, or products that just did not make sense to store in-store. It has also been a great help for keeping customers happy. We have had customers come in who did not have enough food to last them until our next regular delivery, so instead of losing them to other companies, we have been able to order the products from our website and have it shipped right to their house.
Endless Aisles: That’s great to hear! Do you have a dedicated employee maintaining your e-commerce store?
Pet Friendly: We are a small company and so far I have been handling the online portion by myself. That said, it is a very smart idea to have someone dedicated to just maintaining the e-commerce store and we plan on doing so in the near future.
Endless Aisles: Of course. Do you and your employees find the Endless Aisles interface simple and easy to understand?
Pet Friendly: Yes, it is easy to work with and get familiar with just after just a few hours of playing around with the site.
Endless Aisles: We always want to make sure it’s easy to use regardless of your tech experience. Have you seen an increase in site traffic or sales since using Endless Aisles Web Integration?
Pet Friendly: Yes, we actually saw more traffic on the site, and have noticed more foot traffic in the store since the site went live. There were customers that, for whatever reason, did not want to come in-store or call to see if we carried their products. However, when we went live, they noticed that we sell their favorite products and came in for them.
Endless Aisles: Interesting! How about what is the biggest pain point of e-commerce that you’ve experienced in general? Has Endless Aisles Web Integration helped mitigate or solve this?
Pet Friendly: The competition is much tougher on e-commerce than it is in store. Also MAP pricing is unfairly checked on the e-commerce site. In my opinion, it appears that Chewy and Amazon can sell products for months below the MAP and nothing happens.
I, on the other hand, have received threatening letters on behalf of some manufacturers because our price was below the MAP. Endless Aisles has done a great job making it easy for us to do bulk price adjustments and keep the MAP pricing police happy!
Endless Aisles: Glad to be of service! What is your favorite thing about Endless Aisles Web Integration e-commerce?
Pet Friendly: I really like having the ability to sell to family, friends, and strangers all across the country. With strategy, and a little bit of effort, the potential for the site is endless.
Endless Aisles: What are your goals for a year from now for your online store?
Pet Friendly: We are in the middle of transferring our local delivery site to Shopify so that both our Endless Aisles and local delivery are on the same platform. This will make it easier for us to work the sites and also easier for customers to shop.
Endless Aisles: Speaking of Shopify, how do you market your online store? Has marketing been critical for your Endless Aisles success?
Pet Friendly: We use a few different ways to promote our online store including signage around the store letting customers know we have many more products on our website that could be shipped to them at no cost (we offer free shipping on orders over $49). We also send weekly e-blasts to our current client list.
We also have set aside a monthly budget for advertising on Google.
Endless Aisles: Those are some great ideas. What would you say would be your number one tip for finding success with Endless Aisles?
Pet Friendly: Having someone dedicated to the website to keep up with new products Endless Aisles adds to the system, pricing, and making decisions on what brands are worth keeping on the site based on their margins.
Endless Aisles: Also a great idea! Hamed, thank you once more for taking the time to talk about Endless Aisles Web Integration!
Pet Friendly: No problem! Thank you as well!
To learn more about Endless Aisles, please visit our website at endlessaisles.io.