PET SITTING MARKET SIZE AND SHARE ANALYSIS - GROWTH TRENDS AND FORECASTS (2024-2031)

The high service charges have been a major obstacle in the growth of the pet sitting market. Pet owners are hesitant to opt for paid pet sitting services due to the steep costs involved. While pet sitting services offer great convenience and peace of mind for owners who travel frequently for work, the high fees deter many from availing these services. Pet sitting involves a personal care provider visiting the client's home on a regular basis to care for their pets. This includes activities like feeding, exercising, playing with and providing company to the pets. As the services are personalized and labor-intensive, pet sitters charge high hourly rates. Additionally, many charge a fee for the initial meeting with the pet owners to understand the pet's routine and needs. They also have minimum hours requirements which drives up the overall cost. For busy families with multiple pets, availing full-time pet sitting can burn a deep hole in their pockets. High costs have especially restricted the potential of this market in developing nations. As per the World Bank data, many developing countries saw their GDP contraction in 2020-21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic turmoil reduced disposable incomes. With constrained budgets, pet owners find it difficult to regularly pay expensive pet sitting fees. They instead rely on cheaper alternatives like family/friends helping out or taking pets to inexpensive group boarding facilities. This has negatively impacted the sign-ups for regular paid pet sitting subscriptions in such markets.

Market Opportunities: Technology integration like live pet monitoring

Live pet monitoring through pet cameras provides a tremendous opportunity to transform the pet sitting industry. As more people adopt flexible work arrangements or need to travel for longer periods, there is increasing demand for services that provide peace of mind about pets' well-being at home. Live monitoring allows sitters to check on pets anytime through a camera app and ensures pets are comfortable, safe, and receiving adequate care such as food, water, walks and playtime. This addresses a major concern owners have when leaving their pets for extended times and builds greater trust in sitters. With the ability to remotely see pets, owners are far more comfortable utilizing sitters for longer assignments or last-minute trips without disrupting pets' routine. The technology is gaining tremendous traction as camera prices drop and models offer wider features like motion detection notifications, treats dispensing, two-way audio and integration with smart home devices. In fact, the American Pet Products Association estimates 28% of U.S. households with pets now have a pet camera, a sizeable jump from 15% in 2020 (APPA National Pet Owners Survey 2021-2022). The potential of this emerging technology to transform an otherwise service-based industry into a technology-enabled one has attracted major investment from VCs. Several new startups offer full-service live monitoring platforms while others provide hardware and software capabilities for existing sitters to build their businesses.