How to Buy a Pets Franchise

While it's true that pets are cute and cuddly companions, they're also a serious annual investment. Since almost two-thirds of households have a pet, and pet ownership grows each year by 5%, investing in a pet store or pet franchise can be a very sound move.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

1. Decide what kind of pet store or pet service franchise you want to get into on the basis of your natural abilities and experience. The most common franchises are dog walking services, home modification services, pet "resorts" or kennels and pet grooming and general care franchises.
2. Set out your investment so you can target the right kind of business. Franchises that require you to go to pet owners homes to do home modification or on-site grooming require the least investment. Dog training and walking are also low investment. Pet stores and kennel facilities, on the other hand, require between $500,000 and $1,000,000 initial investment.
3. Understand the market by doing a market analysis so you know how well the local market can support a pet store or pet service franchise. You can do informal market research on your own by interviewing people in a mall or going door to door. If you have some budget for research, then use a market research company to give you a full market research done at a professional level.
4. Know all the financials involved in the franchise relationship before you get into it since it's easy to get away from financial considerations when dealing with a business as seemingly friendly as pet store franchising. You should know the initial investment, the initial franchise fee, the annual royalty and the renewal fee for the franchise before you even meet with the franchise owners.