Problem: I’ve recently been fascinated by the growth of pets and pet care in America. Here are a bunch of fascinating statistics, but I wanted to share with you just two:
According to Statista, 42% of Americans purchased pet toys online from an app during the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only this, approx. 14% of pet owners purchased pet food from an online-only outlet during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Source)
Half (about 60 million) of American households own pets and the amount of money they spend on their four-legged friends is evidence of the growing need for time-saving pet care services. Over the decade ending in 2017, sales of pet care services doubled, to a total of $5.8 billion, according to the latest Economic Census statistics. (Source)
How could a business capitalize on these trends?
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Solution: Today’s post is inspired by “Pet App Development Ideas and Trends for Startups” by quytech.com. They named and described a bunch of areas for pet-care application development, naming 7 areas in particular. In this post, I will describe each of these areas along with offering my thoughts on the validity of these ideas in the market.
Personalized Digital Pet Records: Just as every human has to go to the doctor, pets need care as well. Quytech reports that, 8 out of 10 pet owners like to have prompt access to their pet’s advanced information. “There are many apps available that allow pet owners to book appointments, coordinate with the vets, and groomers are already present in the market. As a business owner, you can create an app that sets date reminders, saving a pet’s history, and keeping a record of advice and suggestions from pet service providers.” It’s almost like a portable HIPPA record or other medical record, but specifically for animals.
Pet Training App: Dog training is expensive. As described by HomeGuide, “a professional trainer costs $30 to $50 per class on average, while private training ranges from $45 to $120 per hour session.” A video-enabled training app or dog-training series of videos could potentially be a great billion-dollar opportunity. Quytech’s suggestion I think is very valid.
Pet Health App: Tied to IoT devices, an application that tracks and monitors the health of your pet could be extremely valuable. In addition to providing “information to pet owners related to the detection and prevention of common diseases, as well as treatments available,” it could actively alert you of pet-specific issues that may be affecting your best friend.
Pet Social Network App: “Find pet owners near me” would be the goal of an application like this. The idea would be to give pet owners a platform to communicate with each other and share best-practices or resources for pet providers and other pet owners. There are tons of Facebook groups that tackle this subgroup which I find fascinating: maybe enough to become a whole industry!
Pet Food Delivery App: If you enjoy lugging around 25-50 pound bags of nutrition, then you probably would hate this pet food delivery app. As Quytech describes, there is an opportunity to create a pet food delivery app where pet owners can order food for their pets with just a simple click.
Pet Tracking App: Building off the idea of IoT enabled pet, this business would help individuals to better track their pets and ensure that they stay both safe and health. Enabling pet-owners through this technology would be invaluable.
Dog Calming Music App: Headspace for dogs? Maybe! AS Quytech writes, “You can design an app that provides different relaxing songs, which works well for all breeds of dogs to calm them into a state of silence.”
Other statistics about the industry to verify the market opportunity are below.
Monetization: Sales generated from these pet-care apps in isolation or aggregation.
Contributed by: Michael Bervell (Billion Dollar Startup Ideas)