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Small Business Mindset & Growth

Writer's picture: Booth ParkerBooth Parker

The other day I was scrolling on Facebook and saw a fellow dog-lover friend of mine had made a post asking for recommendations on where to buy dog food after she had a bad experience with Pet’s Mart. Numerous people had commented. One of the comments was recommending a small, local pet store that I have frequented many times but it is not where I purchase food. I simply commented that I was very happy with Chewy and that they had amazing customer service. While I typically make homemade food for my dogs, I do supplement that with some high quality kibble per the recommendation of our vet. That supplementation is still the need for a 60 pound bag of food every other week and thus Chewy delivery comes into play here. (This is where my husband would interject that we have too many dogs.)


Me working at my computer for my small business clients

I saw I had a notification on my comment and it was the small, local store with a negative reply. In an effort to guilt me for supporting a large business or to make it sound like Chewy did not have good customer service, he incorrectly stated that Pet’s Mart owns Chewy. Per Wikipedia: “In May 2017 PetSmart purchased the online pet-products e-tailer Chewy as a largely independent subsidiary. Chewy went public in an IPO in June 2019; As of March 2021, PetSmart no longer owns Chewy and they are independently operated companies.” I also looked up the current majority shareholders of Chewy and it was over 91% institutional investors at that time.


The ownership structure of Chewy was not the point though. The point was this business had come onto a recommendation thread between friends and was presenting themselves in an unbecoming way by making a negative comment about my recommendation of a competitor. Instead of trying to guilt someone for where they choose to buy dog food, maybe ask “Why are my potential customers choosing to purchase their pet food elsewhere?” And I can confidently say that if this business was to take a survey of locals that purchase their pet food from Chewy and ask them WHY they would hear an overwhelming response of CONVENIENCE!


I am a huge supporter of small businesses and I am constantly giving “shout outs” to them on social media as often as I can. And I believe the majority of people are supporters of small businesses. But there is also the reality of the stress of daily life. When a mom goes to work all day and then spends all evening driving all over eastern NC to take her kids to athletic events and pulls in the driveway at 10:00 or 11:00, the convenience of the dog food sitting at the front door is one less stressful task for her to worry about. I have bought beds and toys and treats from this particular small, local pet supply store but even in off-season traffic it would be a minimum 45 minute round trip for me to go there and get dog food. And during tourist season it would be well over an hour plus fighting crowds and parking shortages. People in general, especially busy moms, aren’t going to do that when there is the option of convenience: having their pet food delivered to their front door on a regular, as needed, schedule. No bags of dog food stacked up in the garage amongst sports gear and all the other “things” that accumulate in the garage.


This business was failing to recognize WHY people purchase their pet food from places like Chewy. And I think that type of mindset is commonplace amongst small businesses because small business is hard and competing against the giant corporations is hard. But there is a lot to be learned in the answer to the question WHY. Putting on blinders and not acknowledging does not grow small businesses; it hinders them. 


To the best of my knowledge, this small, local store does not offer a subscription delivery service. Which makes me ask another question. Have they ever done a cost analysis as to what their ROI would be if they did offer a subscription delivery service? I am confident that a lot of people would cancel their Chewy or similar delivery service if they could get the same CONVENIENCE from a small, locally owned store. Plus, our area has a lot of second homers and I am confident they would love to make their order and pull up at their second homes without the worry of packing or picking up pet food.


When small businesses choose to be negative about the successes of other businesses rather than asking HOW they can deliver what it is the customer is purchasing elsewhere, they fail to make their own business more successful. A simple question to ask in this situation: How would I start and what would I need to offer a subscription delivery service? Things to consider would be:

  • Do I have a vehicle that could work for deliveries or would I need to purchase one?

  • Would I need to hire a driver or someone to operate the store while I made deliveries?

  • Would I need to upgrade any IT such as website or subscription payment processing?

  • How much would I need to increase my stock orders and how would that affect upfront cash flow?

  • How many more bags of pet food would I sell by offering the service and how would that affect my purchasing power from suppliers?

  • How much more revenue would I make by offering the service and does it make my business overall more profitable given the increase in expense to offer it?

Some of these questions can be easily quantified. Some would take a little market research but would be able to be estimated based on the research responses. And if the answers tell you not to pursue that route then leave it to the businesses doing it successfully and channel your focus on what you can do well. But if there is opportunity to grow your business then seize it!


Big business is not always the downfall of small business. Sometimes it’s the small business mindset of not being willing to think big. If you are a small business owner, don’t miss the forest for the trees. Don’t look at the success of other businesses and competitors with a cynical mindset. Approach with a curious mindset: Why are they successful? What are they doing differently? How are they doing it? Once you have answered those questions, it can be difficult to acknowledge your shortcomings. Knowing the path you need to pursue can feel intimidating because it is outside of your comfort zone. However, you will gain confidence the more you do this very thing and confidence will aid you in consistently asking the hard questions of your small business to continue to grow it. 


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