As you can imagine, we get a lot of questions from our customers about how we manage the business, develop new ideas, and just generally do things. We thought it would be a good idea to take some of the common questions and answer them here in the blog – on an irregular basis (I can hear my mother – oh really? You thought that would be a good idea?). So, anyway, here’s one we get a lot:
How do you determine what dog lover gift products you are going to make?
Ultimately, we always need to consider the end consumer (buyer) of the products, but when marketing gifts to dog lovers we need to also consider the intermediaries or whether we are just going sell a particular dog lover gift online.
One of the primary things to understand about Dog is Good, however, is that we do not consider ourselves to be just a dog themed product company – we are a messaging company that connects to dog lovers on an emotional level. Dog is Good has the flexibility to adapt art and messaging to any number of dog themed products in gift, apparel or home decor.
Just because we have come up with art and messaging we want to use, doesn’t necessarily mean it makes sense on any or all products. For example, we have developed clever, humorous messaging that may sell on wall art but never on apparel. Sometimes we just don’t know that until it does well or just doesn’t sell.
Frequently, we go into multi-unit or large retailers with a “program.” They need to see cohesive, often seasonal merchandising that can be rotated and is complete. This may drive the products we make because they have specific desires, and they can buy in volume that allows us to produce it at a cost that works for us and the store buyer.
Of course there are also times when we know, by virtue of the fact that we ourselves are dog lovers and buy dog lover gifts, we have a winning idea that our many independent retailers will see as a fit for their dog lover customers as well.