Introduction
The pet care industry in America is a fairly mature service industry, representing a mature business with a steady and growing clientele. To open and maintain such a business, it is necessary to study the structure of this industry in the market, assess the risks and rewards, and also draw up a consistent plan of necessary actions for starting a pet care business. To begin with, it is necessary to clearly describe this market and its constituent elements and principles of regulation, also focusing on the state of New Jersey, where such a project is planned to be implemented.
Services Provided
The pet care service is based on the needs of the pet and the client, which includes a special diet and feeding habits, the health of the animal and the medicines required for giving, exercises and games. Aspects of personal attention and special needs are also taken into account by service workers. In addition to taking care of the pets, workers may also care for the plants and even provide some housework like taking care of the mail or dry cleaning. All this is usually included in the list of services automatically, giving additional benefit and confidence to the client since they take care not only of their pet but also of the house as a whole, in which there is a certain holistic nature. Care at the veterinarian or comber may also be included in the range of services.
Market Overview: Risks and Advancements
In recent years, the demand for pet care services has only been growing. This is due to the increased attachment of owners to their animals, and their willingness to make financial contributions to their care. The market across the US is projected to grow by 6.1% by 2027 to be worth $350 billion (Global Market Insights, 2021). At the moment, about 9% of this market is made up of care services, which this review focuses on. Similarly associated with the expansion of this multi-billion dollar market in America are technological innovations offering new and more effective ways of care. Technological breakthroughs in grooming or the provision of training grounds, the introduction of GPS technology to determine the location of animals, allow one to talk about the greater availability of such services.
Therefore, this means the democratization of this market and its even greater growth. Until recently, the market has also been hampered by the fact that people are more likely to trust their pets to friends or relatives. However, with the development of not only technologies but also the industry as a whole, the professionalism of experts in this field is so high that services can be provided relatively inexpensively and at the same time, be impeccable.
Pet Care via Social Networking
It should be noted the diversity of this industry at the micro and macro levels. Although there are an impressive number of full-fledged companies offering their services in New Jersey, animal care is a more branched business that can be done privately. Thus, before opening a company, it should be borne in mind that there is competition from individuals who find work using special social networks. Some sites are algorithms for finding a sitter in a particular state or city, taking into account geolocation. In New Jersey, there are now several hundred private sitters of various ages and professional qualities who claim to be able to provide the best care for a pet. Many of these private entrepreneurs indicate that they have decades of experience, which is also confirmed by the rating and commenting system. The ability to read the profile of each of the sitters and organize the list by price or rating is quite convenient for the client. Thus, aggregators on which sitters are registered that are not tied to a specific company should be perceived as a natural part of the industry and at the same time, quite competitive.
It is also important to note that finding a sitter on a social network is two to three times cheaper than hiring him through a specialized company. In New Jersey, starting prices for a professional sitter start at $90 per night, while on aggregators, such a sitter can be found for $20-25. This indicates a serious market price spread, but also that, regardless of the financial wealth of pet owners, the demand for pet sitting remains relevant.
Post-COVID Era
It is necessary to give a separate description of the state of this industry in the post-COVID era. In 2020, the pet care industry, like many others, suffered significant economic losses. It is pointed out that the recession took place in the literal sense, as a negative trend – people canceled the order of the sitter for the animal more often than they made new requests. This situation was obviously related to the lockdown, the need to stay at home, and the inability to go on a business trip or travel. The plans of most people on the planet began to be fixed around staying at home, so for a long time, the services of pet care organizations were irrelevant.
However, it is important to note an extremely interesting paradox here. The situation has developed in such a way that by spending time at home in the vast majority of cases, people have become closer to their animals and more attached to them. Moreover, the same applies to animals that began to spend much more time with their owners, which lined up in a psychological pattern. Before the era of the coronavirus, animals took it easy when a person left home for a few hours, knowing that they would return at the appointed time.
Nevertheless, now the psychological binding of animals to their owners and vice versa has become much stronger. This has had an undeniable positive impact on the pet care industry in the post-COVID era. Due to the fact that with the lifting of the lockdown, people began to travel more, move around, and generally go out into the streets, the demand for these services is only growing. It is noted that, at the moment, Americans can resort to pet care services even if they leave the house for two or three hours. This indicates how much the level of effect of the owners’ attachment to animals has grown and how much they worry about them. This certainly stimulates the pay-care business today, emphasizing that the services of sitters can be needed at any time. So a market that suffered losses is now on the rise, probably even more so than in the pre-Covid era.
Conclusion
Thus, it is safe to claim that this market will remain prosperous in the coming years. Technological innovations have made these services more accessible. People have become more attached to their animals during the pandemic, and now, with the rise in demand for travel, the need for such services is especially strong. A large number of specialized companies and private employees not only provides healthy competition but also establishes a large number of actors in this market, confirming the profitability of this niche.
Reference
Global Market Insights (2021). Pet care market size by type.