Report Overview
Brick-and-mortar pet product retailers continue to use non-medical pet services to attract and retain customers.
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 waste retrieval, travel, and end-of-life services also discussed. Report coverage also includes pet insurance as a financial service and key category for market growth.
After paying a heavy price during the pandemic shutdowns, hands-on pet services are in full-on recovery mode. Even so, like the pet industry as a whole, the market remains challenged by economic uncertainty exacerbated by a Presidential election year. Another headwind is the declining dog population since dogs account for the lion’s share of pet services across all categories. The good news is, the economy appears to be on the upswing based on declining inflation, low unemployment, strong retail sales, the Fed’s September 2024 interest rate cut, and a stock market at record levels.
In this environment, ample growth potential remains, as underscored by Walmart’s ongoing rollout of its in-store Pet Services Centers, the rapid expansion of franchisors with national aspirations, and the success of new concepts such as outdoor play space rentals. At the same time, pet health remains of paramount importance, and technology including smartphone-based is playing an increasing role. Pet insurance remains the standout performer, surging from 14% of non-medical pet services sales in 2019 to a projected 34% in 2024, reflecting a double-digit compound annual growth rate driven in part by the increased enrollment of cats.
The information 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.
Omniservice and Omnimarket
Over the past decade, the pet industry has entered a new era of multiple-front competition driven largely by the e-commerce boom. As a result, the business is no longer just “omnichannel” but “omnimarket”, with companies strategically crossing operational boundaries between brick-and-mortar and e-tail, pet specialty and mass channels, products and services, food and non-food pet supplies, medical/healthcare and commodity pet products, and consumer demographics. Given the challenges inherent therein, this transformation represents a tremendous opportunity for pet market participants industry-wide. Embracing an “omniservice” approach, proactive pet service providers are riding the trend; retailers, pet care centers, grooming salons, boarding facilities, and pet insurance providers are complementing and bolstering their core services with new offerings (including at-home, virtual, and veterinary services), while additionally branching out into underdeveloped areas such as pet transportation and bereavement. Pet care providers that can meet the broadest spectrum of pet/pet owner needs will be in the proverbial catbird seat.
Retail-ization
Hands-on, non-medical pet and veterinary services are – and increasingly will be – a retail affair, as they are probably the most reliable means for brick-and-mortar retailers to attract shoppers and outdo the likes of Chewy and Amazon. In the years ahead, not only will retailers be more reliant upon services, but veterinary and non-medical pet service providers will be more reliant upon retailers. This will largely be attributable to pet owners’ increasingly embracing the convenience of one-stop shopping for products and services. One of the biggest signs of these times was the September 2023 opening of Walmart’s first Pet Services Center, offering routine veterinary care and grooming, with five more centers slated to open in October 2024. Walmart also continues to work with Best Friends Pet Care, which operates daycare/grooming centers in Walmart and Meijer stores, and Chewy plans to open its seventh Chewy Vet Care clinic by the end of 2024. The one-stop shopping appeal is potent, and may be all the more so among retailers able to offer human and pet products and services in the same location. In Packaged Facts July/August 2024 survey, over-half (55%) of pet owners agree they like the idea of getting pet products and services at the same place, with 23% in strong agreement.
Pet Grooming Considered Second-Most Important Non-Medical Pet Service
Despite the pandemic drop-off in grooming and the category’s slow recovery post pandemic, pet owners rank grooming after veterinary care among the “the most important services for the health and wellness of your pets”, at 37% of dog owners and 27% of cat owners, as shown by Packaged Facts’ July/August 2024 Survey of Pet Owners. Other non-medical pet services also take their place respectably alongside traditional veterinary concerns, including pet walking, pet training, and pet insurance/wellness plans. These data suggest that pet services remain on solid footing in the minds of pet owners, even if some are choosing to tighten their purse strings. It also suggests that the slower going of grooming and training may owe at least as much to dog population trends as to consumer mindsets and priorities.