Report Overview
What are the top challenges facing the pet services market?
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A decline in the dog population
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Increasing competition to drive in-store growth
This report focuses on non-medical pet services 
for dogs and cats in the US, including grooming, boarding (overnight) and daycare, training, and pet sitting/walking, with niche and emerging areas such as end-of-life services and waste retrieval services also discussed. Report coverage also includes pet insurance as a financial service – and a key category for market growth.
See our blog on Pet Insurance!
The COVID-19 pandemic exacted a toll on non-medical pet services that continues to be felt. The market didn’t rebound to its pre-pandemic 2019 sales levels until 2022, when 8% growth lifted sales to $11 billion. While an additional 8% growth is projected for 2023, in real dollar terms the post-pandemic rebound is less impressive than it may sound, as much of dollar growth stems from the macroeconomic factor of high price inflation in pet services. Posing a challenge to the pet industry as a whole is the gradually declining dog population, only partially offset by cat population growth.
Market innovation opportunities remain, nonetheless, as hands-on pet services increasingly become a chain retail affair, including a wave of franchise activity as well as initiatives by or partnerships with retail giants. Notably, Walmart has opened its first Walmart Pet Services Center combining veterinary and grooming services, with dedicated signage and entrance along the Walmart storefront. Not only are traditional pet product retailers becoming more reliant on pet services for one-stop shopping appeal, but veterinary and non-medical pet service providers will become even more heavily reliant upon retailers for growth.
At the same time, on the financial end of the pet services market, pet insurance has risen in the past few years to claim the top spot by market share, representing 30% of sales as of 2023, up from 14% in 2019, reflecting a double-digit compound annual growth rate during the 2019-2023 period. Along with vastly increased consumer awareness over the past decade, the high cost of veterinary services has been a key factor to the pet insurance boom, along with disproportionate growth in pet insurance for cats.
The information contained in this report was obtained from primary and secondary research. Our estimates of market size and company performance are based on reported revenues of pet services providers, government data including US Bureau of Labor Statistics, and figures from other market research sources. Primary research includes national online consumer polls of US adult pet owners (age 18+) conducted on an ongoing basis by Packaged Facts. Detailed consumer demographics discussion also draws on trended MRI-Simmons National Consumer Studies.
Walmart Opens First Walmart Brended Pet Services Center
One of the most dramatic recent developments to pet care services offered in retail stores is Walmart’s September 2023 grand opening of its first Walmart Pet Services Center. Located at the Walmart Supercenter in Dallas, Georgia, the center offers routine veterinary care for dogs and cats (vaccines, wellness exams, and minor medical services) and grooming services for dogs (baths, nail trims, teeth cleaning, ear cleaning, and basic hair trims). Walmart is using the Dallas, Georgia, store as a pilot to determine how to best work with its collaborators, but the goal is to open additional centers. A company spokesperson told CNBC (September 20, 2023) that Walmart plans to open more Pet Care Centers in the coming year, if not sooner.
Pet Specialty Retailers Increasingly Reliant on Services
When PetSmart and Petco first explored grooming and training services in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the initiative may have seemed like a luxury – an opportunity to tap into a higher margin revenue stream and position themselves as one-stop pet care destinations during a period of heady retail sales and store expansion. Today, a robust suite of services seems essential to the ongoing health (if not outright survival) of many pet specialty retailers that are losing product sales to e-commerce and mass channels. Signs of the times include the recent marriage and ongoing expansion of the Pet Supplies Plus/Wag N’ Wash duo, as well as the product/services synergies of new franchisors like Woof Gang Bakery & Grooming, EarthWise Pet, Pet Evolution, Bowie Barker Bath + Groomerie, and PetNmind.