Navigating the world of dog food wholesale can be complex, but that complexity opens the door to major sales and profits. Within the dog food market, you have the tried-and-true dry kibble, the adventurous raw diet, highly flavored wet canned foods, and the up-and-coming fresh diet that’s generating a lot of excitement.
But which one(s) is right for your business? Let’s explore our comprehensive guide for retailers and find out!
What Is Dog Food Wholesale?
Wholesale is the act of buying goods in bulk and reselling them in smaller quantities to make a profit. Wholesale can simply be buying products from a manufacturer and reselling them to different retailers. Or, more so in the case of our article, it’s about eliminating the middleman, with you buying goods from a manufacturer to sell directly to your customers. Some companies, such as Nike, Casper, and Apple, do both!
The pet market is a fantastic place for wholesale due to the plethora of pet products and the passion customers have for their pets. In other words, they are willing to spend good money if they think a product will elevate their pets’ lives.
The Benefits Of Bulk Buying Dog Food
Buying dog food in bulk can have several advantages.
Savings: This is the reason wholesale exists! When you can combat the disadvantages of buying dog food in bulk, you unlock the immense savings/profits it can bring alone.
Convenience: Buying your goods in bulk to wholesale is extremely convenient, especially if you’re wholesaling from just one or two manufacturers.
Product Variety: By leaving the manufacturing up to others, you are given the ability to quickly and easily expand your product selection with products proven to succeed.
The Disadvantages of Buying Dog Food In Bulk
High Initial Costs: While ultimately it’s cheaper to buy dog food in bulk, the upfront costs can be scary, especially if this is your first time.
Shelf Life: Shelf life on dog foods varies quite a bit, with canned foods typically having the longest shelf life. If you’re unsure how fast you can move the product, you may want to stick to foods with a longer shelf life.
Storage Space: While dry kibble has a long shelf life, it takes up a lot of room. This means you’ll need to plan out how much storage space you have available in comparison to the product’s shelf life.
Types of Dog Foods
Not too long ago, buying pet food was pretty simple. You basically just went picked up a bag of dry kibble during your normal grocery store run. Today, that’s far from the case. Even when giving their dogs a kibble diet, many pet owners prefer to purchase from specialty pet shops.
Dry Kibble
Without a doubt, kibble is the most economical and go-to choice for most pet owners. Great for teeth health and simple to give, kibble has a long shelf life (unopened dry dog food tends to have a shelf life between 12 and 18 months). As well, unlike some of the other dog foods you can wholesale, kibble does not require refrigeration. Thanks to different formulations (kibble for puppies, advanced age blends, etc.), you can fill your shelves with just dry kibble products alone.
So if you have enough storage space, kibble is an excellent option to look into when you’re unsure how fast you can sell.
Raw Diet
A diet consisting of meat, bones, and organs, the raw diet is both highly sought after but also the most controversial. Besides the short shelf life and need for refrigeration, raw diets are notorious for issues with bacteria and nutrient deficiencies. Solve those issues, however, and you open yourself to a very passionate market that’s made up of pet owners that go the extra mile for their pets’ diet.
However, due to the emerging popularity of fresh diets and their ability to solve many of the disadvantages of raw diets, you likely don’t want to go out of your way to wholesale raw dog foods.
Wet Foods
Wet food, often called canned food, is an excellent wholesale option, especially if your customer base is more health-conscious. Not as complex as raw foods and without the bacteria risks from a raw uncooked diet, canned foods are often the first jumping point many pet owners make when transitioning from kibble.
With a typical shelf life of up to two years and no need for refrigeration, wet food may be an even better option for those unsure how fast they can move their products than dry kibble. But you need to do your research as their higher costs often turn pet owners away.
Fresh Diet
Thanks to them mostly eliminating the issues with raw diets, while largely sharing the same benefits, putting our dogs on a fresh food diet is quickly becoming popular. Also known as home-cooked meals, fresh dog food comes in two main shapes. First, there are pre-made and cooked meal kits that will consist of ingredients gently cooked to unlock all their nutrients, such as chicken, carrots, rice, and other tasty goodies.
Then there are countertop machines that allow pet owners to cook their dogs’ food right in their kitchen. While they have a high initial cost, they are excellent for saving on dog food in the long term. They give pet parents the ability to easily change up the meals they make for their dog, take advantage of grocery deals, and use ingredients they have in their fridge that aren’t going to be eaten before their expiration date.
Conclusion
While there is a lot to it, navigating the world of dog product wholesale doesn’t have to be a nightmare endeavor for retailers interested in the profits it can bring. The big thing is you want to learn about all the different foods, their advantages and disadvantages, and what your customer base prefers.
