Pets West

Pets West is a locally owned pet store in Victoria, BC offering a wide range of pet supplies, live small animals and fish, and cat adoption service in partnership with local rescue organizations. They have been part of the community for over 25 years, providing expertise, knowledge and helping to make Victoria a great place to live with pets. As a long term client with Radar Hill, we have seen Lisa through an evolution of website design and functionality. Previously, we upgraded their website to a responsive design. The new website features information on animals for adoption, lost and found pets, coupons and specials, events, a blog with the latest tips and advice for pet owners as well as a full section of other great resources for pet care in Victoria. More recently we added e-commerce due to the pandemic. Within weeks, we had an inventory of more than 10,000 items online and available for delivery or curbside pickup.

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In business, you have to be online now, and being with Radar Hill allows us to have a professional website that has the credibility. As a small business, we try to do all jobs ourselves, but it is important to recognize that there are some jobs that we are not going to be very good at. Just like I have a professional carpenter come in to do our renovations, having a website done by professionals is a worthwhile expense. Because the website goes out to everyone and reflects who I am and what my store is, it has to look professional to have that credibility. It can’t be something that is just slapped together, as that would not look good or perform as well. Radar Hill has solved many things for me. If I were to narrow it down to one, it would be the mobile aspect. My website adapts to smartphones, which is important as 40% of the visitors come from mobile phones. I appreciate that I have somewhere like Radar Hill that is keeping up with the technology. I don’t have time to read all the articles or emails detailing what the latest trends are. Having someone filter it and then tell me what is going to be most beneficial to me personally, is a significant asset. Whenever I send an email I get excellent follow up support, and the overall willingness to help. That is a huge factor in working with Radar Hill, as opposed to a big impersonal business that doesn’t care. The fact that they are local, and that the bosses are right here to talk to, is a huge aspect. It’s important to be able to speak to the people face to face that are making the decisions - so if there is a problem you can inform the right person and get immediate action. The website is an investment in building our business like any other advertising, but it is one of the few expenses that can be controlled; you decide how much you want to grow and what capacity you can handle. People ask us who did our site and we tell them and recommend Radar Hill because they are local, always willing to help, and will give you a professional website.

Lisa Nitkin, Pets West