This document discusses how technology is transforming the pet industry. It identifies two megatrends driving changes: 1) as incomes rise, pets are increasingly viewed as family members rather than property, and 2) technology becomes more powerful and affordable over time. These megatrends are combining to create an explosion of new tech-enabled pet products and services. Emerging trends in the pet industry include highly segmented products and services, adoption of business models and tactics from other industries like healthcare, the rise of professional pet experts and celebrities, and the empowerment of small cottage industries through technology. To survive disruption from tech, those in the pet industry should start narrow and expand their focus, get comfortable outsourcing, and stay up-to-

1. 8/23/138/23/13
Techpetually Speaking:
How Tech is Transforming the Pet Industry
Aaron Easterly
August 23, 2013

2. Quick Survey
Were you doing
this 5 years ago?
10 years ago?
Blogger?
Small Business Owner?

3. A Little Bit About Myself . . .
+ +

4. MegaTrends

5. 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

6. 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/$400
1 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.

7. 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

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

9. 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.”

10. 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.

11. 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

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

13. 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)

14. RoverReels: Polish With No Pain
14

15. How It Impacts You

16. 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
1. 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
1. 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)

17. Q&A