What I Learned Running a 48-Hour Pet Food Delivery Experiment in Myrtle Beach

Why I Tried This

I’ve been exploring ways to build something beyond just “renting out my time.” Even though Walmart and Amazon deliver pet food, I wanted to test whether there was room in Myrtle Beach for a local, same-day delivery service focused on heavy 25–40 lb bags and premium brands. Instead of guessing, I decided to run a quick experiment to see if the idea had traction.

So I asked: What if I offered local pet food delivery, starting with premium brands like Annamaet, Verus, and Fromm?

Instead of building a full business, I decided to run a learning sprint: a 48-hour test to measure demand.

The Experiment

Platform: Facebook Marketplace
Listings: 3 versions of a “coming soon” delivery service
Tactics:
- Short, attention-grabbing titles (🐾 Pet Food Delivered)
- Photos of stacked dog food bags (to feel real, not stock)
- Clear CTAs: “Message your brand & bag size”
- Offer: Free first delivery for early sign-ups

The Results (After ~48 Hours)

450 clicks across 3 listings
5 messages (about service, price, delivery range)
1 buyer gave me their brand + bag size (outside my delivery area, but still a signal)
Multiple people saved or followed the listing

What I Learned

Clicks are easy, conversions are hard. People liked the idea enough to click, but few took action. Trust and clarity were the missing pieces.
Trust is everything. One person asked if I had a storefront. Without one, I would need strong branding, a simple website, or a partner location.
Specifics drive engagement. When I listed real brands and prices, I got better responses.
Myrtle Beach is a small market. Even with optimization, the ceiling here would be low. This could be a lifestyle side hustle, not a scalable company.
Learning fast beats guessing. In 48 hours, I got more insight than I could from weeks of planning.

Why I’m Not Pursuing It

While the concept has merit (pet delivery works in bigger markets), the combination of:

Limited population
High competition from national chains
Logistics challenges of heavy items

…makes this a tough play for Myrtle Beach.

Instead, I’m treating this as a successful learning sprint. It wasn’t about launching a pet business — it was about sharpening my ability to test ideas quickly and cheaply.

Key Takeaway

You don’t need a business plan or investors to validate an idea. Sometimes, all it takes is:

A free Facebook Marketplace post
A few hours of tracking results
A willingness to walk away if the numbers don’t add up

That’s how you avoid sinking months (or years) into something that was never going to scale.

👉 Next for Me: I’m applying this same sprint mindset to explore new local opportunities that might have a bigger upside.