Wild Birds Unlimited Implemented New Technologies, Bird Foods, in 2018

Wild Birds Unlimited saw major growth in 2018 thanks to a combination of new bird feeding products, customer-oriented changes and store transfers among franchisees.

Chief Development Officer Paul Pickett spoke to the major changes that happened for the brand in 2018.

One of the biggest changes Wild Birds Unlimited had in 2018 was the implementation of MyWBU, which allows customers to order products online and chose to have those orders shipped to their home or picked up in their Wild Birds Unlimited store. They can also view what they’ve ordered in the past.

MyWBU has made for a more seamless customer experience and provides a more convenient way for the customer to shop in their favorite store

“Giving our franchisees that omnichannel option was a huge advantage and a major initiative,” Pickett said.

MyWBU initially did a test launch towards the end of 2017 with 13 stores and the omnichannel, which is optional for franchisees, became available across the entire system earlier this year.

“The initiative is branded ‘MyWBU Store’ to drive home the fact that it’s an extension of the local store customers already shop,” Wild Birds Unlimited Director of Marketing Support Bo Lowery told 1851 Franchise just before MyWBU was offered system-wide. “When ordering via MyWBU Store, orders are fulfilled by the same local staff customers already know and trust.”

The brand, which has 337 open stores, saw 15 store transfers in 2018 and also opened 15 new stores. Three of those 15 stores came from multi-unit growth. Wild Birds Unlimited plans to open three more new stores by the end of 2018.

“We had a record number of transfers this year,” Pickett said. “We’ve been very fortunate that we’ve had a number of existing stores that have opened up second stores or an existing franchisee bought another store from another franchisee, so we’ve had a lot of internal growth.”

The company is in the middle of migrating from one CRM to another and is also completely revamping their franchise development website. Pickett said both projects are expected to be complete by the end of 2018.

Wild Birds Unlimited also introduced more than 30 new proprietary products to their bird food category.

New products include Winter SuperBlend, the brand’s highest fat seed blend that aims to help birds with winter survival. The Jim’s Birdacious Bark Butter line of spreadable suet, was expanded to give customers an even more conveinent way to offer the food – QuickBites, single serving treats. The new products started shipping out to Wild Birds Unlimited stores this fall. Pickett said there has been an “incredible level of embracement” among franchisees and customers with the new product offerings.

“Those products only recently came out just in time for the holiday season, but preliminary results are that customers are loving it,” Pickett said. “Those products will attract new and different birds and bring new solutions for our customers, right in their own backyards.”

In terms of franchisee recruitment, the company is in the process of testing some new Facebook and Google campaigns and has gotten some traction from that, according to Pickett.

Pickett said that Wild Birds Unlimited plans to continue upholding its values as it recruits new franchisees.

“From a brand standpoint, we want to make sure our values are really clearly shared with all of our franchisee candidates, and those values are being honest, ethical and respectful,” Pickett said. “We embrace diversity and guarantee that our products are of the highest quality and excellent value. We’re focusing on giving the best experience to all of our franchisee candidates.”

The startup costs for a Wild Birds Unlimited franchise range from $146,516 to $249,956, which includes the franchise fee. The franchise fee is $30,000. To learn more about franchising with Wild Birds Unlimited, visit https://franchise.wbu.com/.