How to Open a Pet Shop: From Checking Demand to First Sales

To open a pet shop, first check demand in your chosen area and work out how many purchases you need to cover costs. Before signing a lease, prepare a product list, get supplier quotes and draw up a budget that includes a cash reserve. This will help you decide whether the premises and product range fit your financial capacity.

This plan covers a retail shop selling pet food in the manufacturer’s sealed packaging and pet accessories. It does not cover live animals, veterinary medicines, veterinary services, manufacturing, or repacking food yourself. These activities require separate preparation.

Check demand in the area before renting

As the owner, you need to find out which products people buy regularly, where they buy them and what might prompt them to visit a new shop. The number of residential buildings nearby alone is not enough to forecast sales.

1. Define the area from which customers could conveniently reach the shop. Walk the main routes from residential buildings, public transport stops and places where people shop every day.
2. Check nearby shops and online offers that deliver to the area. Record prices for identical products, pack sizes, opening hours and order collection terms.
3. Talk to potential customers. Ask what kind of pet they have, which specific food they buy, what pack size they prefer, how often they shop and what makes it hard to find the product.
4. Put together a sample catalogue with prices based on supplier quotes. Collect requests for specific products. Be clear that the shop is preparing to open, and do not promise stock availability that has not been confirmed.
5. Compare the expected number of purchases with your break-even calculation. Assess separately where new customers will come from and why they will return.

Record the results in a table: product, required pack size, price acceptable to the customer, purchase frequency and number of requests. A response such as “the area needs a shop” is not enough reason to order a specific food. A request for a particular brand and pack size can already be checked against a supplier’s terms.

Choose premises with products and costs in mind

Compare premises by their full monthly cost: rent, utilities, maintenance and upkeep. Add the deposit, repairs, shelving and checkout preparation to your start-up budget.

When viewing a property, check whether the entrance is accessible, the shop is visible, heavy packs can be unloaded and there is room for stock. The premises must allow you to follow the storage conditions stated by food manufacturers. Assess humidity, sunlight heating, ventilation and whether the space can be kept clean.

Before signing, agree with the landlord on the permitted use of the premises, signage, repairs, access to utilities and unloading arrangements. Specify in the lease what the payments include, how rent can change, how the deposit is returned, how early termination works and who is responsible for repairs. Have a lawyer review the lease and an accountant include the costs in your financial plan.

Build an initial product range matrix

A product range matrix is a list of the products the shop plans to keep in stock. At launch, include products whose demand has been confirmed through surveys, requests or test sales. Add new categories in small quantities.

For each product, record the purchase price, delivery costs, selling price, opening quantity, supplier, lead time and return terms. Track different pack sizes of the same food as separate products: their prices, demand and stock levels differ.

Set a replenishment rule. The reorder point is expected sales during the delivery lead time plus a buffer for possible delays. For example, if you sell two packs a day as an assumption, delivery takes four days and the safety stock is four packs, reorder when stock reaches 12 packs: 2 × 4 + 4. Review this guide once you have actual sales data.

Agree on documents and terms with suppliers

Compare several quotes for the same products. In addition to price, check the minimum order value, delivery times, payment terms, remaining shelf life of food, and the process for damaged packs and recalled batches.

Before your first order, agree on which documents the shop will receive: a contract or agreed supply terms, delivery notes and transport documents. Under Article 10, Part 6 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Safety and Hygiene of Feed”, the only document that must accompany feed during domestic transport is a consignment note or an equivalent document for the relevant type of transport, unless the law provides otherwise. This rule does not remove the need to document the purchase.

For every delivery, keep a link between the supplier, document, product, quantity and feed batch. Traceability means being able to establish where a product came from and which batch it belongs to. If no other methods are used for this purpose, Article 10, Part 7 requires the consignment note to be kept for the period needed for traceability.

What to check when receiving feed

• Match product names, pack sizes and quantities against the delivery note.
• Inspect the packaging for damage, moisture and contamination.
• Check the batch number, best-before date and storage conditions.
• Make sure mandatory Ukrainian-language labelling is legible and not covered by other stickers.
• Check the feed type, intended purpose and details of the operator responsible for labelling, taking into account the requirements for the specific feed and packaging.
• Record any discrepancies and resolve them with the supplier before putting the products on display.

Part 9 of Article 23 permits certain information to appear only on the outer group packaging of packaged pet food, where several packaged units are sold together in that group packaging and their total weight does not exceed 10 kg. This applies to the name and address of the operator responsible for labelling, the approval number where it is required to be stated, the list of additives, and the moisture content. The exception does not apply to all mandatory information. If you plan to sell units separately from the group packaging, check with your supplier before display that the mandatory labelling for such sales is in place.

Take retail feed requirements into account

Point 5 of Article 3, Part 2 of Law of Ukraine No. 2264-VIII “On the Safety and Hygiene of Feed” excludes retail trade in pet food from the scope of Articles 11, 12, 14 and 15 and Sections VI and VII of that law. The requirements in those provisions therefore cannot automatically be applied to the shop described here.

Other requirements of the law remain important. Articles 9 and 10 require storage conditions to be followed, unsafe feed to be prevented from entering circulation and feed whose minimum storage period has expired not to be sold. For a seller who does not package or label feed and does not affect its integrity, Article 9, Part 5 expressly provides for participation in withdrawing unsafe feed, passing on traceability information and cooperating with suppliers and the competent authority.

Assign an employee to receive notices about problem batches and customer complaints. If there are grounds to believe feed does not meet requirements, stop selling it, separate the relevant batch and begin a withdrawal. Article 9, Part 4 requires the competent authority to be notified in writing no later than two working days after the non-compliance is identified. If the feed may have reached customers, they must be informed and, where necessary, the product recalled.

Article 9, Part 3 provides for periodic testing of feed in accredited laboratories for restricted or prohibited substances. The relevant Procedure was approved by Order of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy dated 05.06.2025 No. 1817, in the version dated 29.07.2025. It contains special rules for monitoring dioxins in fats, oils and products derived from them, as well as requirements for sampling and testing methods. Before you start selling, ask the territorial office of the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection for written guidance on how this requirement applies to your product range and retail format.

Prepare registration, payments and record keeping

Choose a legal form for the business and register it. Article 18 of Law No. 755-IV lists the documents required for state registration of an individual entrepreneur. Work with an accountant to prepare your business activity codes, tax system, tax payments and employee paperwork in line with how the shop will actually operate.

Make a separate list of payment methods: cash, in-store card payments, online payments, prepayments and cash on delivery. For each method, define how the sale is recorded, how the transaction document is issued and how refunds are handled. Do not apply one conclusion about fiscalisation to every payment method.

As a general rule, Article 3 of Law No. 265/95-VR requires settlement transactions to be made for the full purchase amount through a registered cash register (RRO) or software cash register (PRRO), with a transaction receipt provided to the customer. An RRO is a cash register; a PRRO is its software-based version. Exceptions depend on legal grounds, including Articles 9 and 10 of this law. Check whether they apply to your shop before the first sale.

Point 12 of Article 3 sets out requirements for recording stock and keeping documents showing its origin. It also provides an exception for individual entrepreneurs on the single tax without VAT, except for specified product categories. Even if the exception applies, keep purchase documents for supplier dealings, cost control and feed traceability.

Calculate the start-up budget and cash reserve

Separate the costs of preparing the shop, stock and operating reserve. The example below is hypothetical; it is not market pricing or a recommended investment amount. Replace each figure with quotes for your premises and product range.

In this example, the reserve is set aside for the following months of operation; the first rent payment is already included in preparation costs. Set the reserve period and amount based on forecast receipts and payments. Also allow for money to replenish stock, pay taxes and pay the owner if these are not included in the calculation.

Prepare a payment calendar: when rent, wages, suppliers and delivery must be paid, and when the shop will actually receive money from customers. Stock on hand is not a substitute for cash to pay bills.

Work out the number of purchases needed to break even

First work out what remains from an average purchase after the purchase cost of the goods and variable costs. Variable costs arise with each sale, such as payment processing fees, packaging or delivery paid for by the shop.

Illustrative example: the average completed purchase is UAH 500, the purchase cost of the goods sold is UAH 350, and other variable costs are UAH 25. The contribution of one purchase towards fixed costs is 500 − 350 − 25 = UAH 125.

If fixed costs are UAH 60,000 per month, you need 60,000 ÷ 125 = 480 completed purchases. This corresponds to revenue of UAH 240,000. Over 30 working days, the guide is 16 purchases a day.

The result shows break-even before tax and the owner’s remuneration if these are not included in costs. It does not determine how long it will take to recover the start-up investment. Do not count cancelled orders as sales; include returns and losses in the actual result.

Also check a discount scenario. If the average amount paid falls to UAH 475 while the purchase cost and other variable costs stay the same, the contribution will be UAH 100. You will then need 600 purchases to cover the same UAH 60,000. Run this calculation before approving promotions.

How to manage pet shop stock and sales in Torgsoft

When stock arrives, enter the products and quantities actually received. In Torgsoft, the “Склад → Стан складу” form (“Warehouse → Stock Status”) shows received products, stock levels, selling prices and cost prices. Use this information to check availability before ordering from a supplier. Manage batch tracking and best-before date monitoring separately under the agreed feed acceptance and inspection procedure.

If a specific customer is selected during a sale, their purchase history can be used to find products they bought earlier. This helps confirm the food brand and pack size when they return. Purchases not linked to a customer do not provide a complete personal history.

Analyse sales by product and category: what customers buy, what stays in stock for a long time and which products need replenishing. The features are described on the “Програма для зоомагазину” page (“Pet shop software”). To compare recorded stock with the actual quantity, use the Torgsoft stocktake instructions. Before closing the stocktake report, recount products with discrepancies: closing it creates documents for surpluses and shortages.

Organise the shop’s daily operations

Before opening, assign responsibility for receiving stock, ordering, sales, feed checks and end-of-day summaries. One person can handle these tasks in a small shop, but the process should be written down.

• Before opening, check that the checkout, equipment, price labels and storage area are ready.
• Receive deliveries using the agreed checklist. Keep products with unresolved discrepancies separate.
• Put packs with the shortest remaining storage life out for sale first. Remove feed that has passed its best-before date from sale.
• Record requests for unavailable products and the reasons customers decided not to buy.
• At the end of the day, reconcile sales, payments and refunds. If the shop uses an RRO or PRRO and carried out settlement transactions during the day, create a fiscal daily report receipt in accordance with Article 3, Point 9 of Law No. 265/95-VR.
• Regularly check physical stock, best-before dates, damage and products with no sales.
• Review purchasing needs and the payment calendar weekly.

Train the salesperson to find the required pack size, explain label information, process a sale and pass complaints to the responsible employee. When describing food, do not attribute properties to it that are not supported by confirmed manufacturer information.

Check readiness for the first sale

Open the shop once five outcomes are in place: you have demand data, the lease is agreed, supply with documentation is ready, payments and record keeping are set up, and money remains in the budget to operate after the stock purchase.

After the first month, compare the plan with actual figures: completed purchases, average purchase amount, contribution towards costs, stock and available cash. Use the results to adjust orders, expenses and product range. Plan to expand the shop after assessing how the current format is performing.

Official sources

• Law of Ukraine “On the Safety and Hygiene of Feed” No. 2264-VIII: Article 3, Part 2, Point 5 — exceptions for retail trade in pet food; Articles 9 and 10 — obligations, safety, withdrawal, documents and retention periods; Articles 22–24 — labelling.
• Law of Ukraine “On the Use of Cash Registers in Trade, Public Catering and Services” No. 265/95-VR: Articles 2 and 3 — settlement transactions, documents and stock records; Articles 9 and 10 — exceptions and specific forms of settlement.
• Law of Ukraine “On State Registration of Legal Entities, Individual Entrepreneurs and Public Organisations” No. 755-IV: Article 18 — documents required for state registration of an individual entrepreneur.