How to Sell Cat Food

I had an interesting conversation with a local merchant not too long ago. I went there to talk about the benefits of our website www.finditbyme.com as it pertains to local search. While waiting for the meeting to start, I started exploring and found that they carried the brand of cat food my cat likes. I also found the brand of cat litter I use. Sounds exciting so far?

When I went there, I had NO expectation of finding cat food, cat litter or anything pertaining to pets because I was at a fertilizer store. So how do you buy cat food? First you have to know where cat food is sold. Next question is, can you get the size of cat food that you want? There is one other store (that I know of) that sells the brand of cat food that I want. The largest size bag is four pounds. The new discovery of cat food at the fertilizer store is available in 8 pound sizes. My cat goes through eight pounds of cat food in about five weeks. I prefer getting the larger size for obvious reasons, like it is cheaper in large quantities and I can wait twice as long to resupply.

Acquisition Cost
I know how all of you are praying that this story goes on forever, but I'll stop here to make my point: what is the acquisition cost for a new customer? Here is what is involved:

• Advertising: This involves letting my audience know I have what they need. It can be via print, radio, Internet, signage or word of mouth.
• The Sale: If I can get them into my store, how likely is it that they'll buy something?

For local businesses in a small community like Fallbrook CA, there are often unique circumstances. For Fallbrook, there is a larger community about ten miles away called Temecula. There is also other surrounding communties in close proximity to Fallbrook: Vista, San Marcos, Oceanside, Escondido to name a few. Some of these are closer to people in Fallbrook, some are further away. East of Fallbrook the main road leading to I-15 is Mission Road. There is only one traffic light in the middle of it on the way to the I-15 (plus three new ones before or at the on-ramps). So it is a relatively straight shot to the I-15 and then to Temecula where SR79 South leads to major shopping opportunities, and that is true for the next two exits at Rancho California Road and Winchester Drive. The other communities mentioned above require a minimum of ten traffic lights to reach, some substantially more. So the path of least resistance for Fallbrook shoppers is Temecula.

My friend Bob Leonard, the CEO of the Fallbrook Chamber of Commerce told me once that people don't feel like they're going out to eat unless they drive ten miles or more. I have to agree with his learned observation. That being said, what about other things that I want or need that I might "go down the hill" for? Before I learned about other places in Fallbrook that carried the cat food my cat likes, I ALWAYS thought I had to go to Temecula to get this cat food. Now I know I don't, but only by accident. The round trip to most places in Temecula is around 22 miles. Most cars don't get good mileage for the first 30 minutes of driving, so for example my car will get around 12 miles per gallon for the first hour of driving. So for me, I burn two gallons of gas for this round trip. At an average price of $2.20 per gallon for unleaded, my travel cost is $4.40. So the cat food I buy in Temecula is now $4.40 more expensive.

Oh, but I get more than one thing when I go to Temecula!

Yes, that is the solution. You visit more than one place so you spread the travel cost around all the things you spend money on in Temecula. So your average purchases per trip may reach hundreds of dollars to "make the trip worthwhile".

I have no complaint about what the merchants in Temecula are offering. I go there myself for various reasons. But consider this: if I knew as a merchant I could cut down on one Temecula purchase per week for a Fallbrook resident, it means for one bag of cat food about $20, for me that would be $160 per year. So this one fertilizer store now can keep $160 in the local economy instead of outside the local economy. I hate arithmetic, but let's do some anyway.

One shopping trip per family per week equals $200 spent outside the community. Now say 1,000 families per week in Fallbrook leave the community to shop, so that's $200,000 per week that leaves the community. Per year that's $10,400,000 leaving local coffers.

The amount above can actually be much greater. But anyway, some are probably thinking I'm on an anti-Temecula kick. Not at all. Each community has its own unique attractions. Put it another way: when it's 110 degrees in Temecula in summertime, it's usually only 75-80 degrees in Fallbrook. Do we have nice places for folks from Temecula to come and visit, enjoy the sights, see our vast avocado groves and enjoy our local restaurants? Yes we do. Do they know about them? No they don't. So the same way Fallbrook residents can get educated about what is available to them in Fallbrook, Temecula residents can get educated on what is available to them in Fallbrook.

Full Circle

So now we come full circle. One bag of cat food at a time, Fallbrook's local merchants can start to acquire and keep customers in their shops. And www.FindItByMe.com was created for this purpose. Is it possible to keep ten million per year in the local economy? Absolutely. Will it cost the local merchants a lot? Absolutely not. The web site www.FindItByMe.com has almost ten years of development behind it. As a work in progress, it will always keep to its mission of helping the local merchant at the lowest possible cost.

We intend to offer this service to every small community in America. Small town values center on honest, friendly, personal service. When you shop at a large retailer, you shop for what you believe is a commodity. However, to the super-store's management, YOU are the commodity. You are a statistic, a footnote on some corporate accountant's balance sheet. YOU get the proud distinction of being a "purchasing unit", or belonging to a unique "demographic cross-section". If you don't believe me, download any publicly traded company's year end report. Then you'll see what the big retailers really think of you.

Local merchants, you have more power than you think. If you would like to help your local community, be it from Key Largo, FL to Wasilla, AK, FindItByMe.com is ready to help you help your community. Contact John Graffio, CEO of FindItByMe.com to find out how easy it is to get started.