Can someone explain this for me?

[SumpinSpecial]

I geniunely am curious and want to know what's going on here. Early this year I launched a pet supply online shop. I created a Pinterest account and shared all of my merchandise photos there. It's now August and I have a very definite pattern going on with the Pinterest stuff:

100% of the people who come to my shop from Pinterest look at my rabbit hutches. 99% of them look for a few seconds and then leave the site, 1% look for a minute or two at one product and then leave. None of them ever look at the merchandise for dogs, cats or birds. None of them ever browse my site. They look at the one item they saw on Pinterest and then disappear. Also none of them buy anything, which is only odd because there's clearly a strong interest in rabbit hutches among Pinterest people.

Anybody here use Pinterest and have maybe done this, so can explain what's going on? Anybody want to speculate? I can't figure out if having my merchandise images on Pinterest is helping or hurting my shop, so I want to understand what's going on better.

 

[Azerane]

Are the images on pinterest linked to the shop? Or are they separate? If they're linked to your site perhaps they're generating shop views from people simply looking at the image on pinterest? Perhaps it's bots too?

 

[Thumperina]

could you throw us a link with your hutches?
I don't have much to say about your problem but I could at least tell if I personally would buy your hutch or not. (is this another problem that nobody buys hutches or I got it wrong?)

 

[SumpinSpecial]

It could be bots, but the pattern is very unique. If it was bots, I'd think they'd hit all of my products, like the ones for dogs, cats and birds, and not just the hutches. I've also wondered if it was that people love the way the hutches look, but aren't willing to buy them. Prefer to make them or something? Or buy cheaper from eBay or something?

Thumperina, here is a link: http://somethingspecialpetsupplies.com/

 

[Azerane]

^Thumperina has a very good point. Just had a look and those are exactly the sort of hutches that I would never buy. The runs perhaps yes as an exercise area on a lawn or something, but not the hutches. As mentioned in another thread, you would be better off selling the C&C grid cage components and sets for pre-designed cages. If you want to sell flat pack rabbit hutches, take a look at chicken coops instead. They're often suitable for rabbits as well and usually are larger in design.

 

[BlackMiniRex]

:yeahthat:
i took a look at the hutches as well, those are too small for bunnies, i wouldn't buy those ones

 

[SumpinSpecial]

Thanks for the help everyone! I'm going to remove the hutches from my shop. (But I'm going to wait a few weeks until I can get some bunny toys listed so that I don't have a blank page - LOL!) Someone referred me to someone else who hand-crafts rabbit and bird toys, and that crafter agreed to work with me, so hooray!

Unfortunately I don't have the space to store CC units since I work out of my home. I talked to my husband about the possibility of selling instruction kits and he pointed out that a quick google search gives you instruction kits for free, so who would want to pay for them. I suppose if my kits were unique in some way I could. But again, I don't have the space to test-build hutches in order to work out the kit instructions or take photos. So I will need to partner up with someone who can do those things. (for a commission or royalty, of course, I don't expect my suppliers to work for free :hug2

 

[dpbunnies]

Could you stock a product such a liberta wooden hutches? They come flat packed and they do RWAF approved sizes. (6ft x 2ft hutch & 6ft x 8ft run). They may sell a bit better?

 

[SumpinSpecial]

Interesting. They look very similar to the other ones. I searched for the supplier and they're in the UK. Before I inquire if they'll dropship to the USA, I'd like to get opinions about the RWAF sizing and if you guys think these are better than the ones I currently have. (I only have the photos to go buy, so depend on the experts (you guys!) to keep me on the right path. )

Oh, also, I stumbled (by accident!) upon a company that sells CC units for cat patios yesterday! Unless the mesh is the wrong size for rabbits, I think they could be used exactly for custom rabbit hutches/runs like you guys are describing. They sell both full kits and just instruction sets and you buy your own materials. I've emailed them to inquire and will let you guys know what I hear from them.

Save​

 

[MissyAndMoonlight]

Something else that may be hurting you is the lack of variety. Most other online stores have many options, allowing you to find the perfect cage for your customers' bunnies. I use Instagram for my pet treat businesses (which seems to be working out for me), so using Pinterest or any other social media is definitely not the problem. Good luck, running a business isn't easy!

 

[dpbunnies]

Obviously the RWAF sizes are the UK ones - not sure if the USA uses smaller sizes for housing but the rabbit would have 24/7 access to the run.

 

[SumpinSpecial]

Hey everybody, I've been away doing research. I wanted to come back for a minute to show you all something I found that you may like. This company declined to work with me, but I think it sounds like EXACTLY what you guys want so I still want to share it with you. For some reason they're marketing these as cat stuff, but they may work for rabbits also. Check it out. If anyone buys from here, I'd love to hear your thoughts/review about the product in case I'm able to work with them in the future.

http://www.catsondeck.com/price/addons.html

 

[Watermelons]

Hey everybody, I've been away doing research. I wanted to come back for a minute to show you all something I found that you may like. This company declined to work with me, but I think it sounds like EXACTLY what you guys want so I still want to share it with you. For some reason they're marketing these as cat stuff, but they may work for rabbits also. Check it out. If anyone buys from here, I'd love to hear your thoughts/review about the product in case I'm able to work with them in the future.

http://www.catsondeck.com/price/addons.html

Its a lovely idea but... Like my wallet is crying just looking at their page. That is INSANE! And that's in USD.... Oh dear... yeah no Id rather buy a new car or.... Again another reason rabbit owners DIY. NIC (C&C) cubes are CHEAP. Easy. Cheap. Secure. Cheap...

We bought one of these for our indoor cats and set it up on the deck outside.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/PetSafe-Cottageview-5-ft-x-5-ft-x-4-ft-Boxed-Kennel-HBK11-11799/100663387
Then loved it so much we bought another later on and just added on to the one we already had.
they stay outside year round, we've had them setup for... 6 or 7 years now. Still in excellent shape. We added our own shelves, and these cute wooden dog houses for fake dogs, with stairs to get on top of the dog house so the cats can chill inside or on top of the dog house.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Wood-Pe...740325?hash=item236d5e1f65:g:zVUAAOSwOVpXfSiu
Both of those were cheap too, one was $10 the other $20.