The pet-care industry - whether dog boarding kennels, dog daycare, dog grooming or dog training - continues to grow by, well, leaps and bounds. With that growth comes some important trends to consider when planning for pet-care business in 2019.
Pet-Care Professional and Development Certification
Perhaps the most significant trend in pet-care services continues to be the growth of professional development opportunities for pet-care staff and professionals. The Professional Animal Care Certification Council (PACCC) continues to grow in relevance and impact within the pet-care industry, providing pet-care businesses and professionals with opportunities for certification and the ability to provide the best pet-care services possible. This enables professionals to develop their careers, and businesses to elevate their reputation and manage risk.
Led by some of the pet-care industry’s top business leaders and consultants, PACCC has developed a rigorous certification program, with 100s of professionals already certified.
Learn more about PACCC: https://www.facebook.com/pacccert/ and at https://paccert.org/
Pet-care oriented trade-shows, conferences and expos will continue to grow as well, providing meaningful in-person professional development and opportunities to meet with the industry’s most engaged vendors like Gingr!
Top pet-care business conferences and trade-shows in 2019:
- Pet Boarding and Daycare Expo West (Burbank, PA): https://www.petboardingexpowest.com/
- IBPSA Conference (Palm Springs, CA) https://www.ibpsa.com/pet-care-conference/
- Pet Boarding and Daycare Expo (Hershey, PA): https://www.petboardingexpo.com/
Technology
Streamlining operations with online customer self-registration and bookings will continue to grow in importance. Mobile-friendly websites and online customer-booking portals are a must, as smartphones continue to be the dominant device for logging into the internet. Customizing and branding these online experiences will help set pet-care businesses apart from their competition.
As mega-pet-care ‘gig’ service websites like Rover and Wags continue to invest in marketing to pet owners, dog daycares, boarding kennels and grooming businesses need to stay relevant and competitive by making it easy for customers to communicate and reserve online.
Operational software will also continue to help pet-care businesses make it easier for employees to do their job well, while business owners can focus more on building the business.
The industry’s top software company, Gingr, will continue to develop and release new features and functions that help pet-care businesses scale, compete efficiently and provide the best pet care possible. Look to Gingr for some amazing new technology in 2019!
Dog Training
While dog daycare and boarding facilities have seen a steady growth over the years, dog-training businesses are growing and starting up in most markets. Trainers and owners of training-centric businesses will need to streamline their services and operations more to make it easier for pet owners to make the decision and get their pets into training services.
Dog-training businesses will also need to look to ways to efficiently scale operations to achieve financial stability. These professionals may look to the dog daycare model to help scale their business with ‘day-camps’ to help dogs while their owners are at work. and build out more ‘Board-and-Train’ oriented facilities.
Professional dog training associations include https://apdt.com/ and https://www.canineprofessionals.com/.
