We recently connected with Chani Ronez and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Chani, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

My dog, Benzo was diagnosed with acute anxiety and my veterinarian told me that the only way for him to feel better was to medicate him on doggie Xanax on a daily basis and for the rest of his life. Since this was not an option for me, I decided to go on a quest to find every possible alternative treatment.
As I am a big fan of holistic healing, I thought to myself, if crystals are putting me in such a positive and relaxed state of mind, why wouldn’t it work just as much for Benzo? We all know that animals are more in touch with energies and vibrations.

This idea needed to be shared and Merci Collective was born.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Chani, I am french and moved to Los Angeles 6 years ago right after graduating college. I had a very clear career path in events but life had other plans for me. After a few jobs in events, I found myself a passion for technology and more specifically website development and E-commerce. It is fascinating to see how a brand can portray its identity through images. Without even knowing it, I was learning all the skills I needed to succeed with my brand.

Growing up with both my parents involved in the Parisian fashion industry, and having this topic be a part of our lifestyle, it felt natural to me that Merci Collective had to fill the gaps of the pet industry that was left unchanged and lacked innovation.

We decided to reinvent the way you interact with your pet gears by bringing designs that are different, more feminine, and upscale that address modern pet parents.

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

We design and manufacture all of our products. It was an extreme challenge as we started producing in the midst of COVID and our manufacturing partners kept opening and closing their facilities. Thankfully, we were able to push through and get our products eventually.

Manufacturing is really challenging, communication with manufacturers is key and nothing can be left aside otherwise, the products simply do not come the way you envision them. We felt very challenged during our first productions, but over time, it becomes easier and easier as you know what to expect and what to look for.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

We are fortunate that we are in Los Angeles where a lot of pet businesses and services are based. The most powerful thing for us has definitely been networking, going out at pop-ups, tradeshows, and events where we were able to meet with the “big guys” but also create our own network and community.

It is so rewarding to exchange with our peers and our best word of advice is to get out there and communicate with people in the industry. It is not only insightful but also empowering to belong in such a community.

Contact Info:

• Website: mercicollective.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mercicollective_official/