Today, everybody is trying to keep overheads low and if you are thinking of something like that, Zoho Commerce it is.
- Dr. Elizabeth Thomas, Owner, Pets Oasis
The company
Pets Oasis, a pet care brand based out of the United Arab Emirates, assures the best for pet parents. Owned and managed by Dr. Elizabeth Thomas, an experienced veterinarian, it is a luxury pet resort that comes with its own veterinary clinic, a pet shop, and a pet grooming center.
The challenge
Pets Oasis added a lot of services over the years. Until a few years back, they operated solely out of their brick and mortar store in Umm Al Quwain, UAE. "We knew that ecommerce was going to be the next big thing," Dr. Thomas says. "We had started working on it but when the pandemic hit, we thought we couldn't delay it any further. We quickly began looking to find the best solution at hand."
Many options were explored and the team even considered outsourcing the ecommerce setup to experts. "When we were looking at it, the tech person from our team came back and said, 'We can do this ourselves' but we were still skeptical about it since it looked like a huge project. That is when Zoho was suggested."
The solution
For Dr. Thomas, the experience of building a store on Zoho Commerce was quite gratifying. "We were creating it ourselves," she began. "We would sit around and discuss what could go in and what needed to be removed. It was almost like creating your own baby. It was amazing!"
The process wasn't without hiccups, however. One of the challenges the team faced during the process was with the categorization of products, because Pets Oasis has a wide range of categories. Luckily, that was quickly resolved. "We got in touch with the Commerce tech team and, I think within 24 to 48 hours, they gave us the solution," Dr.Thomas recalls.
The benefits
Using Zoho Commerce to set up an ecommerce site helped Pets Oasis across the board. Its ease of use, customizability, and broad reach benefited Dr. Thomas and her team almost immediately.
Zoho Commerce is customer friendly. You don't need technical know-how to implement it. The templates are beautiful and designed in a way where you can put your pictures in and see what suits your business. Zoho Commerce gave us the best solutions when we were choosing our brand colors, too. So we did it in house. We didn't have to hire anybody from the outside.
- Dr. Elizabeth Thomas, Owner, Pets Oasis
Since their ecommerce site was so easy to set up, Pets Oasis was quickly able to reach their customers even when a global pandemic closed their physical location—something Dr. Thomas feels happened at the perfect time. "We reached out to people when they couldn't reach out to us; it has been a huge impetus," she says. "Being in ecommerce, we could now bring our stores into people's offices and living rooms. You're sitting in one place and catering to a bigger world. It is more exciting."
Looking forward
The pet care industry is rapidly changing by the day, so Pets Oasis has to be ready to roll with those changes and keep their site up to date accordingly. "Literally, every week you see some product arriving on the market. The taste and demand of what pet owners want for their pets is ever-changing, too. Being ahead of the game is utilizing best practices—that is the way to stay ahead. Ensure that you are doing the best, nothing less than that."
Learn more about Pets Oasis at their online store: https://petshop.petsoasisuae.com