How to Start a Pet Care Business in India

Earlier the animal care was limited to veterinary hospitals, now it has become a fashion to only domesticate animals but to tame them as pets, some even include animals as part of their family.

There lies a huge difference in domesticating an animal for household usage and keeping a pet, which is why on World Animal day we will look into the business opportunities and how to start one, especially for the pet lovers.

According to India Pet Care Market Analysis by Type, Forecast and Opportunities, 2016-2021, pet care market has grown with a whopping CAGR of 26.21% during 2011-15 and it is forecast to grow with a CAGR of over 17% during 2016-21.

Change in the lifestyle & consumption pattern coupled with rise in the disposable income, following upsurge in the number of double income households has helped pet care market considerably.

Growing pet humanization, urbanisation and changing consumers' taste and preference, are few of the additional factors driving the pet care market in India.

Here are some tips for the pet lover startups and entrepreneurs to help them start a pet care business in India:

1.   Research and Planning:

Research about the kind of products available in the market and pick those, which are very much on demand by the customers’ end. This is a pain staking business but the research will help in building a strong foundation for your business.

Look out for the crowd, where there are a lot of pets and how far the locality from its nearest pet care is store, this will help in knowing exactly where and what business should you start.

Once the research is done, plan well about the supply, the kind of product you want to sell, which veterinary doctor you can appoint and how much can you pay.

2.   Establishing a Niche:

Make a checklist while observing your rival, about how you can be five steps ahead of them. Some pet lovers prefer their pet food, be it for cat, dog, tortoise, guinea pig, parrot, birds, fish or rabbits to be from particular brand to be readily available at one place.

You can keep all these based on your research and an additional care unit will add icing on your cake.

Some pet lovers prefer their pets’ nails or hair trimmed on regular intervals, or bathed with care, you can add all this in your pet care business as well.

3.  Know it All:

Not only stuffing the store with things, and a veterinary care unit will serve the purpose, if you take a little more effort in knowing the products or important tips, which you can offer the pet owners, this little change will work wonder on your business.

Internet knows it all and you can borrow knowledge from it or you can hire people, who have proper training in animal care will leave a lasting impression on customer’s mind. The customer will prefer your store over all others.

4   Marketing and Establishing a Brand:

To establish a brand of your business, the first and foremost step is to select the name. Keep it simple and easy to remember, so that people can remember it easily.

Marketing is to let the world know about your business, through various media publications and channels.

An advertisement on television or radio, being played repeatedly will help the customer remember and will establish itself on its own. These small investments in the initial stage of your business will help you in long term and will make you place on the top chart.

Animal lovers are everywhere, which is why your business is recession free. A pet care business somewhere near their doorstep is all they want.