Andreas and Alexander didn’t start out with a plan to build a pet business, like many people exploring online opportunities, they just wanted to see if dropshipping could work. It seemed accessible, with low upfront costs and no need to store products themselves.
They opened a Shopify store using a readymade theme and started looking for something to sell. That’s when they found an automatic toothpaste dispenser.
“It was popular on TV in the US. They’d sold millions,” Andreas said.
It ticked all the right boxes. It was hard to find in shops, difficult for customers to guess the price, and small enough to ship cheaply. They ordered a sample and spent two full days making a marketing video. Then they launched Facebook ads and waited.
If you start with a general store you can test your own skills and build your own skills. But it’s hard to get very profitable and big with a general store
Andreas Koenig
It ticked all the right boxes. It was hard to find in shops, difficult for customers to guess the price, and small enough to ship cheaply. They ordered a sample and spent two full days making a marketing video. Then they launched Facebook ads and waited.
Only one sale came through.
“The video was good,” Andreas said, “but we didn’t know what we were doing with Facebook ads.”
They gave it a week or two before shutting the store down. It wasn’t going to work.
Trying Again with a General Store
They still wanted to make dropshipping work, so they pivoted. This time, they created a general store called Life-Hacks with a mix of products across different categories like kitchen gadgets, beauty tools, baby products, and pet accessories. The idea was to test a wide range and find something that clicked.
They uploaded around 40 products from various suppliers, spent hours editing the design, and wrote all the descriptions themselves.
Looking back, Alexander thinks this made things harder than they needed to be.
“We had 40 products from different suppliers. That was a big mistake,” he said.
Managing inventory and supplier changes across so many products became a constant issue. One price change could mess up their whole margin. Ads were also difficult to run effectively because the store didn’t have a clear audience.
They found it hard to position their brand too.
“When you have a niche store, you can tell a story. With a general store, it just feels the same as every other one,” Alexander said.
Eventually they decided to shut it down too.
Starting From Scratch, This Time with Pets
They went back to the drawing board. Out of all the categories they’d tested, the pet products had shown the most potential. People love their pets and are often willing to spend money on them.
So they launched a new store focused entirely on pet products, grooming tools, toys, and collars. They kept it simple this time: fewer products, fewer suppliers, better focus.
They weren’t profitable at first, but they didn’t give up. They spent their evenings and weekends watching videos, learning from others, and slowly refining the business.
One small mistake taught them a big lesson.
“We had a typo on our product page,” Alexander said. “We wrote ‘tipe’ instead of ‘type’. Americans saw that and didn’t trust it. We fixed it and our conversion rate went up straight away.”
Then Andreas added a spin-the-wheel app to the site. It gave people a chance to win a discount in exchange for their email address. But most were only getting 5% off, and weren’t buying.
After two weeks, he adjusted the settings so everyone got 10% or 15% and raised the base prices to cover it.
“That’s when things really changed,” Andreas said. “From a couple of sales a day to 10-15 a day. From $30 to $350 a day.”
By the end of their first month, they’d hit nearly $25,000 in sales. A few months later, they were bringing in over $40,000 a month and by January, had passed $150,000. Fast forward three years and they are now over $10m per year.
What They Learned
The lessons they learned weren’t flashy, but they made the difference.
1. Stay Close to Your Customers
They reply to every email quickly, even in the middle of the night. They answer questions by phone, through Facebook comments, and wherever else customers show up.
“People like to know they can reach you,” Andreas said.
2. Keep It Simple with Suppliers
Managing dozens of suppliers caused chaos. Now they focus on just a few, and even talk about creating their own branded products.
“When your supplier knows your store and what’s selling, they can recommend what to try next,” Andreas said.
3. Make the Store Feel Like a Brand
They know Amazon is cheaper. But they also know customers aren’t just buying a product, they’re buying from people they trust.
Their site uses real photos of pets and happy customers. They bundle items together in a way Amazon doesn’t. And it works.
“People could buy it cheaper elsewhere,” Andreas said, “but if your site looks good and the trust is there, they’ll just buy from you.”
4. You’ll Need Some Budget
They started with around $3,000 for ads and software. It wasn’t easy money, most of it went fast, but it gave them the runway they needed to test and learn.
“You need some money to start. For Shopify, for ads, for setting up a business. You don’t need thousands, but you need something,” said Andreas.
5. Be Ready to Work
Both of them put in 70+ hour weeks. No holidays, no breaks.
“If you’ve got a job, forget about free time for a few months,” Andreas said. “Go to bed with your laptop, watch videos, read blogs, do everything you can. That’s how you build a base.”
The Power of Presence
They made plenty of mistakes, from product selection to bad ad targeting to typos. But they treated every failure as a lesson.
It wasn’t a fast win. It was a slow build, full of trial and error. But with focus, effort, and a few smart changes, Andreas and Alexander turned a failed toothpaste dispenser store into a pet brand doing six figures a month.
They didn’t reinvent the wheel. They just stuck with it, kept learning, and got better.
