So we had decided on the product (Air Dried Dog Treats) and had a hypothesis (Did People Want to Bulk Buy their Dog Treats?) to prove.
To test the waters, we did a Facebook post in a couple of neighbourhood groups about bulk buying dog treats to see if there were any interest.
There was one post in a popular Melbourne foodie group where everything just went ballistic.
We were yet to order in stock, as we had no money to buy stock with.
So we did all of it on a pre-order basis. We told people they would be getting the treats in about a weeks time.
There was no website or online store yet so I was taking every order down via Facebook messenger and a spreadsheet to keep track of what people ordered and whether they had paid or not.
Surprisingly, everybody paid upfront which meant that now we could finally buy stock!
I find it amusing that people had little problem sending money to an unknown stranger on Facebook for the sake of a good bargain.
My phone did not stop dinging that entire weekend. And by Monday, we had a business.
It was clear that people loved bulk buying dog treats as the savings were significant.
A good portion of people who had multiple dogs were rejoiced as this way of purchasing made it far better for them.
After waiting a nail biting week for the treats to arrive, we personally contacted everyone to pickup their orders from our front porch and the rest was history.
Well, sort of. This was just the beginning. This initial sale frenzy was precisely the spark we needed to confidently set up our online business.
We took it as the universe's way of green-lighting our plans to start
But, after we had taken all the nice photos of the treatos and set up the online store a few weeks later, along came the crickets...