Some might say that having a pet is like raising a child, and as someone who had pets growing up, I wholeheartedly agree.
In fact, my first “child” was a pet rabbit that I adopted from a local shelter. He was conveniently named “Bunny,” and just like a first-time parent, I wanted the best for my pet by providing him with the best home he could have.
However, that was when I learnt that buying products for my pet became a new cost that my parents had to consider, given that I was a broke polytechnic student at the time. Let’s just say the money we forked out was a lot for one teeny-tiny rabbit.
Thankfully, I was not the only one who had this concern. Sam Zhiquan had not one but two pet rabbits, Sio Bak and Marble, and was looking for more “reasonable rates” for his pets in the long run.
As he searched for a solution, he realised that the only way he could enjoy these rates was to become a retailer himself. He explained that retailers enjoy prices 30-40% cheaper from distributors than purchasing from pet shops.
This led Sam to embark on a side hustle—All With Love, an ecommerce pet product retailer, in December 2021.
From side hustle to full-fledged business
Before launching the platform, Sam spent some time reaching out to brands offering to sell their products as a retailer, to which he claimed to spend up to S$10,000 to bring them in.
However, given that many established pet shop retailers and brands have launched their ecommerce platforms, All With Love has some serious competition to stand out from, which means shifting gears when needed.
Sam shared that he first launched the brand with its website, but as he offered products similar to his competitors, it did not gain as much traction as he had expected.
He eventually moved his operations to Shopee and focused on engaging with his customers, allowing the business to grow its customer base and break even a year after launch.
As his customer base grew and the number of orders increased, balancing his day job at the Bank of Singapore with his side gig became difficult. Sam added that he also wanted more time to be with his loved ones and has since decided to quit his banking job to focus on All With Love full time.
“Time cannot replace money,” he added. Currently, All With Love carries ten pet product brands on their platform, all of which are “tried-and-tested” brands that have established trust amongst customers internationally.
Introducing his vending machines
One might think that just having strong online traffic is enough, but to meet the diverse needs of customers, a business owner needs to have strategies that tackle issues from different angles.
Aside from its online sales, All With Love has also launched vending machines for customers looking for same-day deliveries and 24/7 avenues to source pet care products and primarily supplements when vet clinics are closed.
While he mentioned that introducing vending machines has resulted in losses for the business, Sam emphasised the need for customers to have access to the products they need at any time.
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All With Love vending machine at One Raffles Place / Image Credit: All With Love
Beyond accessibility, Sam explains that the vending machines also act as standstill signboards for the business, with the exterior of the machines, also known as the “skin”, containing essential information that links to their Shopee page for customers who prefer to shop online.
“Some people would rather buy online than from the vending machine, so that’s where the skin helps to direct the customer base online, where Shopee offers free shipping and cashback. So for people that might want to save money, they will redeem vouchers on Shopee, buy online and then save from there,” he added.
Currently, All With Love has three vending machines at One Raffles Place, Compass One, and West Mall. Sam shared his plans to grow his fleet of vending machines to five—one for each region of the island—pointing out that he’s eyeing locations with a gap the company could fill.
Growing to become a distributor
All With Love’s gross annual sales reached six figures in 2022, and the company has maintained this streak since then. Aside from being a retailer, the company has also been operating as a distributor since mid-2023 in a bid to introduce new international pet care brands in Singapore.
According to Sam, working as a distributor is slightly different from working as a retailer, and he needs to build trust with the brands he is bringing in.
“They will usually ask, ‘What is your full volume like? Do you have any customer base?’ That’s where you have to show them the results before they even allow for you to distribute their brand because they usually look for established brands and companies to take their products,” he explained.
Sam has established another pet care distribution company, Anything, with his wife late last year. He is looking to move All With Love’s distribution operations to the platform in the future to distinguish both brands as a distributor and retailer respectively.
Looking forward, Sam expressed his ambition to franchise All With Love “when the time is right.” He added that the plan is a “work in progress,” and he’s focusing first on better understanding the pets market.
- Learn more about All With Love here.
- Read more articles we’ve written on Singaporean startups here.
Featured Image Credit: All With Love