The growth of the Indian pet care industry is inevitable, with a higher number of individuals adopting a furry friend, especially post-pandemic. From pet care to pet food to pet health insurance the industry is scaling up. “India is the country with the fastest-growing pet care market, with over 20 million pet dogs and around 19 million other animals. The pet care industry in India has the potential to be very profitable. Over the next five years, the pet food market, which is currently worth about Rs 4,000 crore is anticipated to expand to reach Rs 10,000 crore by 2025,” said Ambarish Sikarwar, Business Head, Zigly.

The growth of the pet care industry can be attributed to the changing attitude towards pets as well as growing income in nuclear households owing to which numerous brands such as Supertails, Goofy Tails, Zigly, Wiggles, etc have joined the bandwagon, catering to pet needs.  

The fastest-growing sectors include pet food which captures two-thirds of the market revenue followed by pet accessories, grooming, and healthcare. Wiggles aims to integrate pet care offerings and is built to be an omnichannel brand that can serve pets and their families, across touchpoints with solutions that are made for the Indian market.

Having a digital-first approach, Supertails has over 10,000 SKUs and more than 200 pet care brands, while Zigly has over 8 experience centers across Delhi NCR and is serving more than 30,000 pets and pet parents through its website and app.

Why Pet Care?

Unorganized players have historically been the main drivers of the pet care sector in India, however, given the increased attention the industry is receiving, organized companies are now getting more opportunities to enter the market and profit from the rising demand.

While Goofy Tails and Supertails founders ventured into the industry owing to their own pets’ needs, realizing the lack of quality pet products and trustworthy and affordable veterinary services. Zigly being aware of the potential market gap and the existing problems made it a mission to expand the pet care community by addressing the issues of the fragmented market.

Growing up with animals Anushka Iyer, Founder, and CEO, of Wiggles is driven to improve the quality of their lives and thus, aims to address the gaps in the industry to lower health essentials and daily costs.

All these brands make high-quality pet care affordable, compassionate, and accessible for pets and pet parents.

Options Galore

Having the largest assortment with more than 10,000 SKUs and over 200 partner brands across pet food, treats, accessories, grooming, etc., Supertails has also launched vet-approved diets online and is the only player in the country to offer those products.

“We have had more than 20,000 online pet consultations under veterinary care and behavioral training through which we have successfully assisted pet parents in their journey. Moreover, we are working hard to bring renowned international pet care brands to bridge the gap in quality,” said Varun Sadana, Co-founder, Supertails.

The brand further has its own D2C pet health brand ‘Henlo’ and has launched Henlo nutrition topper through which it aims to bridge the nutritional gaps in homemade meals for dogs.

Presently operating in the dog and cat categories, Zigly offers pet products from various renowned brands for numerous aspects including nutrition, health, clothing, grooming, accessories, entertainment, pharmacy, etc. “At our experience centers, we provide services like pet grooming, pathology, and veterinary care,” added Ambarish Sikarwar, Business Head, Zigly.

Starting with vet-on-call and grooming services, Wiggles has pivoted since, solving the most critical problems pets and pet parents face.

“In the process, we’ve created products like EveryDawg - a dog food and treats range that offers the right nutrition at the right price, Barkstix - functional soft chews for dogs, Cannapaw - a cannabis-based pain relief and therapeutic oil for dogs and cats, Stripzy - an easy to feed prebiotic strip, and many more,” said Anushka Iyer.

The brand offers more than 65 SKUs across food, treats, grooming, supplements, and pharmaceuticals and has also set up a state-of-the-art dog boarding, training, and veterinary facility, Petsville, in Pune.

As a brand that is nutrition-focused, Goofy Tails is working on an additional variety of human-grade healthy foods and treats. Kartik Gupta, Co-Founder, and CEO, Goofy Tails said, “There is a rise in diabetes, obesity, and other health problems in our pets, so with our food and treats we aim to help solve these health issues.”

Growing Consumer Demand and Newer Categories

Within pet care, pet food forms the largest share of consumers’ wallets. Wiggles has witnessed a rapidly growing demand for its Oven Baked Premium Dog Food – Ykibble, along with a high demand for functional soft chew sticks for dogs - Barkstix.

Apart from food Iyer also stated that there is a growing demand for skin solutions, like Eraditch Spot On, VetGlow shampoo, and WiCoat - coat supplement.

Since pet care in India is still in its early stages of evolution, newer categories are being introduced at a rapid pace.

“We are constantly listening to our community, to understand the most pressing problems which have helped us launch category-creating products like CannaPaw, Stripzy, YKibble, and more,” commented Anushka Iyer.

Technology and Pet Care

Being tech-savvy is a necessity in the highly competitive retail scenario for every brand in every industry to thrive and flourish. 

Pet care being no different, Zigly is building itself as a digital-first brand for pet parents across multiple locations with the ease of a click-through on its D2C platform.

“At Goofy Tails, we have an automatic water dispenser for dogs. Moreover, in the pet industry, we have also witnessed some innovative tech used to track pets’ health, sleep, and walking. It is an essential product to keep a track of your pet,” said Gupta.

“Zigly is also using its online presence for teleconsultations to avail services and has launched its app for a more personalized and faster consumer experience. Through the app, we aim to deliver our offerings within 24 hours,” said Sikarwar.

The brand is further backing a mix of tech-enabled physical service offerings through its ‘Zigly at Home’ grooming services, expanding its availability and accessibility to ensure a great experience for pets and pet parents.

“We have introduced first-in-India innovations like Oven Baked Dog Food, and Hemp Based Products, both of which require a host of tech solutions in the production process. Also, we use technology to empower our services digitizing the entire medical and behavioral journey of the pet, making services like veterinary consultations and boarding programs convenient and thorough,” added Anushka Iyer.

What The Future Holds

Petcare is a booming industry in India and the brands are going all in.

Zigly aims to reach out to the top 10 cities within the first 2 years, as they are roughly 50 percent of all pets. “We aspire to be the top 3 preferred brands within the next 3 years. We currently have 8 stores in the Delhi-NCR region and have decided to open another 15-16 new stores in the next 12-13 months. In the next five years, we plan to open 150 stores and are looking at revenues close to Rs 500 crore establishing it as the go-to brand for pet parents,” commented Ambarish Sikarwar.

While Goofy Tails aims to become a part of every pet household in India, Supertails aims to build an ecosystem of pet parents that have access to everything their pet needs. “We are gearing up to stay abreast of these needs by adding international brands to our assortment. 5 years from now, we hope to serve every pet parent in India and be their reliable partners in pethood,” added Varun Sadana.

On track to create a 360° pet care ecosystem with a holistic approach to a pet’s well-being while developing brands that are disruptive, economical, and easily accessible, Wiggles has a team of over 250 including vets, behaviorists, trainers, nutritionists, and pharma technologists working together to challenge the status quo and develop solutions that are pet and parent first.

“Moving forward, we are expanding our product categories as well as our offline services footprint while driving the agenda of responsible pet care amongst all stakeholders in the system,” asserted Iyer.

With the aim of reaching out globally with its Indie home-grown brand Goofy Tails’ co-founder, Kartik Gupta said, “We want to help educate the pet parents about healthy, fresh human-grade food alternatives rather than depending on Kibble.”