Boomski Pet Supplies began as a heartfelt endeavor driven by a love for pets and a desire to support a growing family. What started with selling dog tags online soon blossomed into a thriving retail business with three branches across the Philippines. Despite launching just before the pandemic, the founders leveraged challenges into opportunities, innovating with same-day delivery and embracing Loyverse’s POS system to manage their expanding inventory. Their story exemplifies how passion, adaptability, and dedication can turn a personal dream into a successful business venture.

Can you briefly describe your business?

We started a Pet retail business, not because it is in demand but because we love pets. I have been married for 16 years. One of our struggles as a couple is having a child. We had been going through an arduous journey, and it came to a moment when I wanted to give my wife a gift. I decided to get her a dog. Once we got the dog, all the business opportunities came into place. We started our Pet shop, Boomski Pet Supplies. First, we started the business online selling dog tags. We fabricated and sold them online. Once we came to that opportunity to get a fund, we decided to open a Pet store and retail business. We started in October 2019, right before Covid. Six months after, when the pandemic hit us very badly globally, the pet industry and the pet community became an opportunity for us to rise. We started on a small pet store first. We now have three branches in the Philippines, in Quezon City, next to the capital city. That’s how we started, and now we have 1400 SKUs. When we started, we had only 20 SKUs. Initially, it was a challenge for us because we weren’t familiar with the pet industry. We did a lot of hard work and sacrifices. Our initial goal was to have our own business; I can proudly say we have had that success. But we are aware that there is a long way to go. This is our history. 

How did COVID-19 affect your business?

In the Philippines, on the entrepreneur side, they call us pandemic babies. We strived to sell more during the pandemic. A lot of people used to go around and shop for products for their beloved fur babies. What we did is that we offered them a “same-day delivery concept.” When they reached out via our online platform, we delivered same-day to their address in one to two hours. We also gave an opportunity for our friends who were severely affected by the pandemic to work for us to deliver the products to our customers. They are working with us to this day. 

Did you start using Loyverse when you opened your shop, or did you implement the system later? 

No, we did not use the system since the beginning. We started doing anything manually first. I started researching for a POS system when our business grew. I saw many coffee shops using Loyverse here in the Philippines, and I became inquisitive about it to learn how it works and what features it provides. I noticed that the Loyverse system offers the easiest way to monitor our products. When we opened the store and had only 20 SKUs, it was easy to manage them manually, but after the number of products grew, it was necessary to have a system to help us manage all the items. I put my effort into learning the Loyverse system, and now I can say that Loyverse is a partner in our success. Because you offer free use of the system, right? But to unlock additional features that might be useful for the business, there is a subscription, which we have activated because the features included in the add-ons are excellent and needed by us. 

Which are the features that have been most useful for your business?

Advanced Inventory is the feature I appreciate the most and has helped me the most. One of the features that I frequently use is the Purchase orders. We use Transfer Orders to transfer stock between my branches. The Advanced Inventory features suit to our business perfectly. 

Loyverse is very intuitive and easy to use. I don’t have any issues with making sales and using the POS app. 

Of course, the Back office reports, where I can see my sales and my profit, are very beneficial for me to understand how the business is going and to make informed decisions. In addition to the Sales Summary, my second favorite report is sales by item, which allows me to identify the fastest-moving items and the slowest-moving items. This information helps me determine which products to purchase next. 

Have you created your customer base in Loyverse, and do you offer loyalty programs to them?

Unfortunately, we have not explored the loyalty program yet. The majority of our customers are repetitive, actually. We have added them to the system. When we issue a receipt, we assign the customer to it so that the customer can see his name on the printed receipt. This is very convenient for us to understand who are returning customers and who are walk-ins. 

Which online platform do you use for your online sales? 

We use Meta; we have our Facebook page. Also, there are many e-commerce platforms here in Southeast Asia, like Lazada and Grab. When we make sales online, we enter the sales manually in Loyverse so that these sales are calculated in the reports. We recently learned about the integrations that Loyverse offers, and we plan to explore that more to sync the sales from our online platforms automatically to our Loyverse account.

Have you found Loyverse’s customer support responsive and helpful when encountering any issues or having questions about the system?

Customer support has been very helpful in answering all my questions and trying to help me with workarounds for specific features that I might have asked that were not currently available in the system. 

What are your plans for the future, and how do you envision Loyverse supporting these plans?

We aim to grow constantly and open, on average, new stores every two years. Right now we are trying to sustain our three branches, and following two years, we want to open again a new branch. But, like now, the pet industry is like a mushroom. They are coming out everywhere. We have a lot of competition, and we are so lucky that we have established ourselves for the last five years. We have created a credible identity and reliable opportunity for the clients to purchase their needs regarding their fur babies. Our focus for the future is growth. 

Would you like to share any advice or words of wisdom with aspiring entrepreneurs who are looking to start their own retail business?

This is so funny because I feel I don’t yet have the credibility to speak about other people’s businesses and their entrepreneurial journeys. I am with the idea of “their money, their rules.” But, all I can say is do not follow the trend and what is currently popular. Based on my experience, my advice would be: “Do what you love, do what your heart says.” If you are passionate about doing something different, something unique, push and pursue your dreams. There are a lot of sacrifices, but eventually, there will be success. This is in line with our vision. Our vision as a retail business is to create a wonderful and unique experience for our customers. And this vision is in line with our belief that our pets are family. 

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