8/23/138/23/13Techpetually Speaking:

How Tech is Transforming the Pet Industry

Aaron EasterlyAugust 23, 2013

Quick Survey

Were you doing this 5 years ago?

10 years ago?

Blogger?

Small Business Owner?

A Little Bit About Myself . . .

+ +

MegaTrends

MegaTrend #1: From Pets To Children

As nations develop (increasing per capita income), people’s attitudes towards pets evolve from property to family members

– and, in many cases, specifically children

Survey Answer

83% (3%)1

76%2

72% (81%/41%)2

1 Packaged Facts. Pet Owner Survey, 2013. Number in parentheses represents those that somewhat or strongly disagree.2 Harris Interactive and Rover.com Poll. July 2013. Numbers in parentheses represent the split between “pet parents” and “dog owners.”

1. I consider my pet(s) to be part of my family

2. I am a “pet parent”

3. Consider a dog sitter as seriously as a baby sitter

4. Dog has a social media presence 24% (28%/13%)2

MegaTrend #2: Technology Gets More Powerful and Affordable Over Time

An Osborne Executive portable computer, from 1982, and a 2007 Apple iPhone. The Executive weighs 100 times as much, is nearly 500 times as large by volume, costs approximately 10 times as much (inflation adjusted), and has 1/100th the clock frequency of the telephone.

The power of a integrated circuits (computer chips) has increased roughly 2.6M times in the last 40 years.1

The cost of starting a tech business has come down dramatically . . .2

The cost of tech required to get a web business live (servers, bandwidth, databases, etc.)

1999

$50-200K

2013

$0/$12/$4001 Wikipedia.org, 2013, “Moore’s Law”2 Approximations as a variety of approaches were available. The 2013 numbers look at the free, monthly website in a box option, and AWS implementation.

The MegaTrends Are Coming Together To Create An Explosion of New Products and Services in the Pet Industry

Note: Photos taken from royal-hours.net and closequarter.co.uk.

Increasing per capita income and the

transformation of dog to full fledged

family member

Decreasing cost of technology that allows profitable deployment in a

increasing number of applications

MegaTrends

Increased demand for tailored products / services to enable

a dedicated pet parent

Increased supply of tailored products

and services

Effects On Pet Industry

Explosion of tech enabled products

and services for the pet industry

Long-Term Outcome

Resulting Emerging Trends in the Pet Industry(Not a comprehensive list)

E.T. #1: Segment, Segment, Segment• Product choice has exploded across many areas

– Food now has an abundance of sub-categories: Raw, Organic, Geriatric, Puppy, Breed-specific, Bite-size.• 38% (43%/21%)1 feed their dog organic food• 14% (16%/7%)1 feed their dog raw food

– Boarding has gone from standard crates/cages packed together to include hotels, in-home, traveling, resorts, camps, and lounges

• Content industry is now highly segmented and detailed – Breed-specific content, blogs, and social network sites (PitFriendzy)– Lots of local / geo-specific content (Top 10 dog parks in XXX; Seattle

Dog Spot)

1 Harris Interactive and Rover.com Poll. July 2013. Numbers in parentheses represent the split between “pet parents” and “dog owners.”

E.T. #2: Products, Business Models, and Tactics From Other Industries

1. The vet industry now has specialization similar to human medicine as the demand for care is noticeably higher for those who identify pets as family members

2. Specialty retail has continued to gain share from grocery stores; more recently boutique retail has emerged.

1 Printed in Packaged Facts, Pet Market Outlook, 2013.

3. Health Management

Fitbit (For Humans)

• Whistle• FitBark• Tagg?

E.T. #2 (Cont.): Products, Business Models, and Tactics From Other Industries

What makes a great dog sitter?(Hint: It’s probably not what you think)

4. Statistical Modeling and Marketplace Design

E.T. #3: The Professional Pet Expert and Celebrity

E.T. #4: The Empowered Cottage Industry

• Technology allows pet lovers to dabble in pet related business with very little upfront investment:– Blogging / Content Sites (e.g. Blogspot)– Boutique retail (e.g. Etsy)– Sitting / walking / daycare (e.g. Rover)

• These services remove much of the complexity of starting small businesses for close to zero upfront cost. They often bring services such as:– Demand generation (Helps you get customers)– Fulfillment (Facilitates delivery of product / service)– Support and value add (better than professionals, in some cases)

RoverReels: Polish With No Pain

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How It Impacts You

To Survive The Disruption That Tech Often Brings. . .

1. Start narrow; then expand– The days of talking about dogs and/or cats in a monolithic manner are over– The market for generic products/services is crowded and going away– Find areas that address the needs of a specific underserved segment. Own

it. And then move on to the next underserved segment

2. Get comfortable with outsourcing– Tech entrepreneurs will constantly be seeking to build products and services

that bring market leading expertise into a cheap, easy-to-use experience – Embrace the use of new tools that allow you to focus on what your best at

3. Stay up-to-date on the health care, children’s, and lifestyle industries– Trends here are often leading indicators to what’s coming for pets– Be mindful of economic viability (not all trends will be successful)

Q&A