dogged – Business Development and Market Expansion Strategy for Sustainable Pet Products

dogged is a Vancouver-based, sustainability-focused pet brand dedicated to creating high-quality, eco-friendly products such as slow feeders and natural treats that enrich the daily lives of dogs and their owners. As a rapidly growing start-up, dogged has established a strong foundation in product design and e-commerce but now faces the strategic challenge of expanding its presence in the B2B market. The company aims to build scalable, data-driven systems for reaching new retail partners across North America while maintaining its values of sustainability and quality.
The core problem lies in developing an efficient, research-based framework to identify, attract, and retain pet retail partners in a competitive market dominated by larger brands with greater marketing resources. doggeds leadership recognizes that current outreach methods rely heavily on manual effort and informal processes, which limits growth and consistency in partner engagement. To move beyond routine sales activities, dogged seeks to design and implement a structured business development model that leverages market research, data analytics, and process optimization to improve outreach precision and conversion rates.
This project represents a significant innovation priority because it will allow dogged to systematically explore new market segments, test and refine outreach strategies, and establish a repeatable system that can be scaled as the company grows. Rather than focusing on short-term sales, the initiative emphasizes long-term organizational learning and process innovation transforming anecdotal outreach into measurable, evidence-based decision-making.

Faculty Supervisor:

Heather Harrison

Student:

Partner:

dogged

Discipline:

Business

Sector:

Other services (except public administration); Retail trade

University:

Kwantlen Polytechnic University

Program: