Asking price: £80,000

Sales revenue: £83,000

Net profit: Undisclosed

Fixtures value: Undisclosed

Stock value: Undisclosed

Business description
Gifts for ex racing dogs – mail order,
e-commerce and High Street retail

Founded upon the current Owner’s undoubted devotion to greyhounds, whippets and lurchers – having been an owner of the dogs as both racers and as pets, this business was originally built around a retail outlet which was first opened almost thirty years ago. Building on a mail order base, more recently the business launched an e-commerce website to enable customers all over the UK to purchase from the comfort of their own home, thus reinforcing its position as the UK’s leading retailer of clothing, accessories, gifts and related merchandise for retired greyhounds, whippets and lurchers.

Based in a secondary retail location in Essex – with e-commerce representing approximately 95% of overall turnover, this business is the place to go for anyone looking for any merchandise relating to ex racing dogs. From collars, coats, muzzles and tassels through to leads, beds and veterinary/medical equipment taking in toys, games, cups, mugs, prints, statuary, models, lamps and even jewellery along the way - you name it this business has it available. It is particularly well known for its knowledge and expertise of the measuring of dogs for the fitting of collars and coats. With all year round availability across its full range and boasting some of the most competitive prices, this company retails virtually all of the top brands – with a range to suit most budgets. The customer base is primarily individual owners with a smattering of kennels and trainers thrown in and is enjoying an increasing demand for its products from overseas.
With many years experience in this sector – including a mobile sales operation touring the leading dog tracks in the south east corner of England in the past, this company has established an enviable reputation for reliability and competitiveness but above all a knowledgeable and friendly service. It has well established relationships with its supplier base which has helped to ensure that product quality and availability is never compromised and that customers receive the highest possible quality of service. As a result this business consistently achieves high levels of customer satisfaction. This high standard of service is matched by the operation of the business itself achieving very prompt delivery of product from its e-commerce operation – more often than not sameday despatch on receipt of the order. If it’s on the website it’s generally in stock with order fulfillment direct from its retail outlet - and if it isn’t readily available, then the business will do whatever is required to get it. As a result of this very high level of customer service this business has developed a strong and extensive, loyal base of customers throughout the UK.
This business is widely acknowledged as having an excellent name within its sector. With turnover for recent financial years consistently in the region of £80,000, generating gross margins of approximately 45%, this represents an excellent acquisition opportunity for an existing operator in the pet retail sector to extend their presence in the marketplace or for a new entrant – most likely a dog enthusiast - to establish an excellent foothold in the sector by acquiring a business with a ‘clicks and mortar’ base with tremendous potential, a strong history and growth potential.

Key strengths:

Having been operating within this marketplace for a number of years this business possesses a strong image and enjoys high levels of awareness amongst its target audience. Anyone with an ex racing dog will be aware of this business and has probably at some stage been a customer. The business offers an excellent, extensive range of high quality products with virtually all of the major brands as suppliers – backed up by a wealth of product knowledge. As a result customers know they will get exactly the right product.

This business has an excellent name and reputation which it has taken advantage of by moving into e-commerce. As a result this business is accessible by all sections of what can be described as quite a diverse target audience – in age, demographics and geography, both in the UK and increasingly abroad. Significant work has been undertaken in the past to ensure the business appears prominently and organically in all major search engines for a wide range of search topics.

The business has excellent trade relationships and a strong supplier base – with virtually all of the major accounts represented. Having successfully fulfilled a huge number of web based transactions throughout its years of operation and having established an excellent track record in personal customer service – through the owner of the business, herself a major authority in the care of ex racing dogs – the business is trusted by its customers to deliver high quality goods at very competitive prices. Working only on a ‘cash with order’ basis – or cleared funds before despatch of goods, the business enjoys very healthy cash flows and suffers no bad debt.

On the marketing front the business enjoys the endorsement arising from its extensive links with dog Rescue Associations.


Key opportunities:
There is an outstanding opportunity to build on the existing business levels and customer base of this company. With a strong demand for the products retailed by this business, a new owner contributing fresh ideas, enthusiasm and motivation together with a little investment will have every advantage of building on an excellent platform.
Very simply the business could extend its opening hours to match normal retail hours and increase its marketing efforts, particularly by reappearing at shows and exhibitions which were very successful for the business in the past.
Currently the business concentrates exclusively on dry goods. This business could easily leverage its excellent reputation within the sector to move into foods, medicines and other dog products with a significant impact on turnover and profitability. This would have the added impact of increasing footfall into the retail outlet – resulting in cross sell opportunities of the current range of merchandise.
Having built such a reputation amongst greyhound, whippet and lurcher owners, there is also significant potential for growth by expanding the ‘brand’ into other breeds and by trading much more on this business’s excellent links with the major rescue organisations.

Financial information:
The business is offered for sale as a going concern. All financial discussions will take place directly between the vendor and all interested parties under the auspices of Turner Butler.
Turnover for the financial year ending October 2008 was approximately £83,000 generating gross margins of approximately 44%.
The Asking Price of £80,000 is for a sale of the assets and goodwill in the business to include the stock at valuation.

Employees: The owner and founder is responsible for the day-to-day running of the business supported by one other operating on a very part time basis and almost exclusively involved in maintaining the website and its listings with major search engines.

Property: Leasehold

Lease terms
The premises are leased with the current agreement due to expire in 2021. Rent is approximately £5,800 per annum. Rates are slightly in excess of £1, 202 per annum.

Location
Located in a small parade of shops set back from the road on one of Essex’s main thoroughfares, this business operates from a prominent secondary retail location of approximately 1,000 square feet split almost 50:50 between retail space and web administration and fulfilment including a kitchen area and WC. The premises are fully alarmed with CCTV and as a former workshop has a 3 phase electricity supply. There are two active telephone lines with a switch installed with capacity for up to ten more.

The premises are leased with the current agreement due to expire in 2021. Rent is approximately £5,800 per annum. Rates are slightly in excess of £1, 202 per annum.

There is ample free parking to the front of the store.

The store is open between 11.00 am and 5.00pm Monday, Tuesday and Thursday and between 11.00 am and 4.00 pm on Fridays. The business is closed Wednesdays and weekends apart from the occasional first Saturday in the month during winter.

Competition / Market
Well known within the sector and with a very well established retail outlet benefiting from high levels of awareness, this business invests little in local area marketing. Its main marketing activity is web based maintaining high listings in all of the major search engines through good use of search engine optimisation techniques for all appropriate search terms as well as sponsored adwords and links to the webpages of major dog rescue associations where visitors can enjoy a 10% saving on purchases via ‘click thru’. By far the most effective form of marketing the business enjoys however is strong word of mouth recommendation, testimony to the very high regard this business is held within the sector.

Support & training
The Owner will provide full business familiarisation, training and handover to ensure a smooth transfer to new Owners.

Reasons for selling
This is a genuine retirement sale.