Pet Care

Supermarkets are in a position to exploit the British love for their pets, but they must first convince pet owners that their stores have the credibility offers plush family members deserve.

Pet owners are now increasingly caring for their pets in the same way as they do themselves - and their children. Not only are they giving their animals with the same names they can choose for their children - with Molly next to the name of your pet than a recent survey by Virgin Money Pet Insurance - who are also his treatment, saying, mimes, and even the food supply, at least in name, bore a resemblance to the human's finest fare.

This growing culture of pets as family members is responsible for the growing market for pet care. Currently worth around £ 3.6 billion (AC Niesler data provided by Masterfoods, 52 w / e 16 April 2005), the market is broadly divided into three distinct areas: pet food, confectionery and accessories veterinary bills and kennelling and insurance costs.

The key area hitherto not exploited by the major supermarkets is veterinary services. The trends suggest that there are more "recession resistant" in areas related to pets and therefore investment in currently still getting dividends and retain customer base.

Both independent veterinary practices and the group would do well to consider this invasion of what previously had been considered a protected domain. It is likely that when the big players set their sights on a lucrative area that present a high quality offer. In response, veterinary practices can improve their presentations to pay attention to things like customer experience and the presentation of their articles for sale in the best manner possible. |