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Screensize: 640 x 480 800 x 600 1024 x 768 1280 x 1024 UserName: Password: Format Mode: Basic  Help  Prompt  Format: Font Andale Mono Arial Arial Black Book Antiqua Century Gothic Comic Sans MS Courier New Georgia Impact Lucida Console Script MT Bold Stencil Tahoma Times New Roman Trebuchet MS Verdana   Size 1 2 3 4 5 6   Color Black Red Yellow Pink Green Orange Purple Blue Beige Brown Teal Navy Maroon LimeGreen Message: * HTML is OFF * Forum Code is ON Smilies [quote][i]Originally posted by Indelible[/i] [br]Hey guys, Just a quick one, my mate has made this Survey and has kindly asked if i'd post it on here for them. It only takes about 3-5mins of your time and would be greatly apprieciated. Pet shop questions [red]Heres link to the survey[/red] http://kwiksurveys.com/online-survey.php?survey_ID=MNJKKL_1461f34&preview=&&hidePreview Cheers Gav -------This Is A Post Replying To People Who'd Already Done It------- Hey everyone, thanks for all taking your time to do this, I'm really thankful and so is my mate, in fact they have asked if i'd post this for them.... ------ Hello, I would like to say a big thank you to those of you, who took the time and filled in the questionnaire. It has been extremely helpful and eye opening, I realise that the questionnaire wasn’t very in depth however I’m planning on making a more in depth one soon, for people to give their ideas. I setup the survey to gather people’s responses because I am looking into opening a pet shop because most pet shops around my area either doesn’t stock livestock, is quite dirty, poorly kept shop and livestock and they don’t have a clue what they are talking about, try to cut corners by not including important equipment such as thermostats ect... and through doing this I have realised how hard it actually is for pet shops, especially because most people’s views and wants are different, although for some of the points I raised this isn’t an excuse. My aim would be to open a friendly and welcoming shop that stocks a variety CB UK animals suitable for inexperienced and experienced keepers alike. With experienced members of staff for different sections within the shop, that would give correct care advice. Quality products available but are not overly priced, animals being kept in large, spacious enclosures with stimulation, where appropriate this mostly applies to mammals. For reptiles, I would look into importing a few rarer species if there was enough interest by experienced keepers. I’m going to go through the results and hopefully answer a few of your questions, apologies if I have missed your question but I think I have covered everyone. Question 1, is quite self-explanatory really but it shows that on average most people visit a pet shop at least one a month. Question 2, I wanted to see what services people would want from pet shops that sometimes aren’t currently available. I thought of using a breeders list and veterinary list because some animals aren’t suitable to have in a pet shop, I personally don’t think certain exotic mammals i.e. sugar gliders. Should be in pet shops due to them being nocturnal and how they require special dietary needs, attention, time out of the cage on the night and of course they need to go to someone who has researched their care and dietary requirements. If the customers have done this then with the breeder’s permission we would pass on their information. The veterinary list I thought would be useful because some vets aren’t experienced with reptiles but are good with the more every day animal i.e. dogs, so the list would consist of good vets that specialize with various animals. Question 3, I would be looking at going for an open, clean, tidy, spacious layout for the shop which most people are in favour for, just so more products can be stocked and it isn’t cramped. Personally I don’t like going round a cramped pet shop. Question 4, I have personally never been into a pet shop that has a variety of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, aquatics and invertebrates that are well kept, in large enclosures depending on the animal. I don’t enjoy seeing rabbits in tiny 2’x2’x2’ cages ect... my aim would be to provide large spacious enclosures for certain animals especially mammals and birds. Question 5, I thought it would be nice for a pet shop to have an array of animals suitable for the newest of keepers and to the more experienced. I look forward to going into a new pet shop to see if they have anything out of the ordinary but 9 times out of 10 it’s the same usual live stock. Obviously this will call for staff that have experience with keeping these animals and it is why I would have a staff member over each section (mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, aquatics and invertebrates) they would have to be experienced and knowledgeable within their section and I’d like to think I have a fairly good knowledge about a few animals having kept a few, although I don’t really know a lot about aquatics so that is something I would educate myself on by talking to experienced keepers. Question 6, I would love to offer a DEFRA registered courier service to customers i.e. if someone visited the shop, paid a deposit on the animal, seemed knowledgeable about the animal but then couldn’t make it down to the shop again. This is where it would come in useful and hopefully if there was a contract in place with a good registered courier then it may bring the price down a little. Question 7, this was a 50-50 split half wanted to buy animals online and half didn’t think it would be a good idea due to the fact that anyone could buy an animal. Which I agree with and fully understand, for people not able to visit the shop but yet still wished to purchase an animal then phoning in or emailing would be an option so then we could talk to the customer to make sure they understood the animals care requirements fully and again this is where the courier would come in useful. Question 8, again pretty self-explanatory and the majority of people was willing to travel up to 30 miles. Question 9, Having live food and frozen food delivered is quite popular, so it’s obviously something that would be available to customers online. Question 10, there are a couple of things that people wanted added to the live food list which was Fruit beetle grubs, Earthworms, Wax worms, Calci worms and larger grub species which would be something that is looked into. A few people asked for live mice, rats, multis I know that animals cannot be sold unweaned by law but this wouldn’t happen anyway. However I am unsure about how the law works with selling live mammals for food, I believe it’s quite a grey area because I know that no vertebrate animal can be exposed to unnecessary suffering or harm but that is hard to judge in my opinion when feeding live, this is a big debate really and everyone’s opinion varies but I personally don’t agree with feeding live mammals unless you have exhausted all other avenues and its getting to the stage the animal may lose its life but even then I would resort to force/assist feeding rather than live because of the risks to the animal when feeding live. Question 11, again a few people requested things to be added to the frozen food list such as Quail, Chickens, and Pheasants and someone also requested quail eggs, I’m not sure if that person meant frozen but this is where a breeders list would come in useful if they had infertile eggs or didn’t mind selling fertile eggs for feeding. I would also try to find a frozen food seller that supplies good quality and sizes in the UK so the animals are bred and humanely euthanized in the UK. Question 12, Many people seemed to think that the reserving either in the shop or online by paying a deposit was a good idea, however the animals wouldn’t be kept around waiting for weeks and the length of the reservation would depend on the circumstances but I would hope to keep it less than 7 days. Question 13, a lot of people seemed quite positive about the custom vivarium building by an experienced joiner; this is something I thought that would come in handy for a few people in my opinion, especially with a delivery service. Question 14, again most peopled seemed to like the idea of the social events taking place at the shop, it wouldn’t be just a “pet shop sell” evening as someone may have thought. The main aim would to get the community together and for people to learn, meet other keepers in the area and meet like minded people. Handling and sexing lesson days was suggested as well as puppy social classes, now in a pet shop I don’t think puppy social classes would be a good idea because of the puppies pooping, peeing and if the try to get any food ect... plus they could stress out animals within the shop so it’s something that would be looked into to see if there was a way to do it safely if it was something people wanted. For the handling days or face your fears days then some animals wouldn’t be handled for their own safety and the persons safety i.e. tarantulas, centipedes... or having snakes and hamsters out at the same time for example, each day would be for specific animals. Question 15, close parking available close to the shop a majority of people would want that as expected. Question 16, again a few people in favour of it being close to public transport. Question 17, the loyalty scheme idea, again the majority of people like it, so it’s something that would get looked into to find something that would be good for the customers. i.e. if you buy live food 5 weeks in a row at the pet shop, you would get one weeks free, same for frozen food and then other things for general products, a variety of ideas would be thought up. Question 18, this in general got a positive view. However the shop would be laid out in sections (not by walls or barriers) and products suitable for those animals within that section. There are quite a few small cages on the market not suitable for what they are intended for so the staff would educate people as much as possible on not buying a too small of a cage for that animal depending on a variety of circumstances at the time, so again this is where experienced and knowledgeable staff are a must. Question 19, I would prefer to source animals from good UK breeders (where possible i.e. invertebrates wouldn’t really be included in this) because that way I would know the animals are quality animals that has had the best start in life, plus I’d know the background of the animal. Question 20, late night opening was popular with most people. Question 21, Invertebrates posted via next day delivery online was a 50-50 split which was understandable but again it would be looked into if people wanted that. Again thank you for taking the time to fill in the survey and apologies for the length of this post, I hope I have managed to answer everyone. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Below is a second post i've been asked to do, my friend found some extra points that needed adding. --------- Hello, Massive thank you for the responses, 91 people have completed the survey, which is absolutely fantastic! A few points have been brought to my attention through the survey, Delivery of large goods – again a contract with a courier service such as Inter-Link, TNT ect... to deliver products (not live animals) would be established so products would be available online to buy, as well as in store for home delivery. Pet boarding – this is something I would be willing to trial, to see if people would be interested. Depending on the animal, costs would range from 0.50p a day for Snakes, £1.00 a day for other reptiles and £1.50 a day for small mammals i.e. mice, rats, hamsters, rabbits ect... Over stocked – someone mentioned they wouldn’t like to see the shop over stocked with hard to keep animals. The stock would be varied with common animals you would expect to see in a pet shop, as well as rarer animals you wouldn’t expect to see so much. We would do our best to ensure that the person interested in buying the animal knew and understood about the animal’s needs and requirements. Website – someone also mentioned many websites have out of date sites or websites that aren’t updated frequently enough. We would strive to update the website daily, with live stock news and changes. We wouldn’t allow people to buy animals (except Invertebrates) online, but you would be able to view a high quality picture of that animal and phone or email to enquire about purchasing. This way it stops impulse buyers, people who don’t have a clue about the animal but it also helps people who cannot get to the shop but want an animal. Deposits would also be taken via phone, in person and over the internet (through PayPal, not through the website) that way we can check that the person understands the animals care requirements. The website would sell products again for delivery via a courier. Live stock – some mentioned mammals and reptiles shouldn’t be together, if you meant co-habiting that obviously wouldn’t happen, the way how I plan the shop to be laid out would be they wouldn’t be next to each other but at the other end of the shop. I have also added an extra question on the survey which means people can put their opinions/ideas ect... Our aims would be great animal welfare and customer satisfaction. I hope this answers some of your questions if you have any more please feel free to ask. ----------------------- Cheers Gav MOD NOTE: link added [/quote]   Check here to include your profile signature.