1300 a day! Comparable to a five-star hotel, I can understand the business of pet foster care in one article

Original Liu yaning titanium media

Ti du tu Wen yi Bai si phase 2

▎ Spring Festival pet foster care "a nest is hard to find".

Editor | Liu Yaning Sun Cheng

Drawing | Chu Yan Mo

Planning and Production | Titanium Media Visual Center

During the Spring Festival, for pet owners who have travel plans, "staying behind" pets has become a big problem.

During the Spring Festival, the orders of pet foster care institutions around the country increased greatly, and there was a situation that "one cage is hard to find", and the price also rose. Some foster care institutions launched SVIP rooms as high as 1299 yuan/day, and the price was comparable to that of five-star hotels. In addition to pet foster care, "door-to-door feeding" is also a more cost-effective choice for pet owners. During the Spring Festival, the lowest price for door-to-door feeding of pet cats in Beijing is in 100 yuan/time, which is about 25 yuan’s holiday fare increase compared with the usual door-to-door feeding price.

For businesses, it is natural not to miss this good opportunity to make money. Pet foster care service is becoming a hot business. Before this year’s Spring Festival, Box Horse launched services such as on-site pet feeding and dog walking in Shanghai during the Spring Festival. The original price was 128 yuan, and the snapping price was 98 yuan.

In order to make pets have a good Spring Festival, pet owners and businesses have exhausted their minds. How is the pet foster care business during the Spring Festival? Which companies have laid out pet foster care business? This issue of titanium media and titanium map brings you attention.

The price of pet foster care per night is equal to that of five-star hotels.

Home feeding is more cost-effective

During the Spring Festival, many pet shops received a large number of foster care orders. The demand for pet foster care in Shanghai pet foster care shop this Spring Festival has increased by about 30% compared with last year. In October 2023, customers in Beijing pet foster care shop began to book rooms during the Spring Festival, and in December 2023, pet foster care rooms were fully booked. The owner of pet foster care in Guangzhou said that he would receive more than a thousand foster care orders during the Spring Festival. It is found that in some pet shops in Beijing, the Spring Festival foster care service should be reserved 15 -60 days in advance, which can be described as "a nest is hard to find".

The strong demand has also pushed up the price of pet foster care. Some pet owners said that the cost of pet foster care for 8 days during the Spring Festival has even been equal to the rent of apartment rooms in Beijing. The data of several pet foster care shops in Beijing were selected, and it was found that most pet shops have introduced rooms with different stalls, and basically every foster pet shop is equipped with a camera for pet owners to check the situation in real time. In addition, cleaning and disinfection are also standard in pet shops. In some rooms with higher fees, its supporting services will also increase services such as massage, accompanying play, free shuttle and bathing in the sun.

In some pet shops for cats, the price of some ordinary rooms is 100-200 yuan/day, and the daily price of luxury rooms is as high as 500 yuan. The difference between "deluxe room" and "ordinary room" lies in the size of the room, the number of cats accommodated and the supporting services. The price of "Sunshine Suite" in a pet shop in Sanlitun, Beijing is 899 yuan/day, and the daily price of "SVIP Room" in a pet shop in Baiziwan, Beijing is 1000 yuan/day, and the daily foster care price exceeds that of five-star hotels.

In addition, the price of foster dogs is higher than that of cats. In the pet shop in Sanlitun, Beijing, the price of the same type of room type foster dog is 100-300 yuan/day more expensive than that of the cat. If the foster care is calculated as 8 days during the Spring Festival, at least 800 yuan is needed, which is equivalent to the cat’s living expenses for nearly two months. If you want pets to receive better services, the total cost of foster care can reach 10392 yuan.

It is worth noting that in addition to foster cats and dogs, some pet shops offer foster rabbits and birds, and the daily price is below 100 yuan.

In addition to pet foster care, door-to-door feeding of pets is gradually becoming popular. Before the Spring Festival, there will be advertisements for door-to-door feeding services on social platforms, community corridors, elevators and other places. Most of these people who provide feeding services are private, and such people will label themselves as professionals such as "senior pet owners and pet store clerks". Door-to-door feeding services include food cleaning, adding food and water, shoveling excrement and adding sand, interactive play, health monitoring and so on. The charging standard varies according to the distance, the number of pets and holidays.

According to the titanium media and titanium map, the service price of door-to-door cat feeding in Beijing includes five aspects: cat feeding service fee, basic door-to-door fee, fare increase per kilometer, fare increase for multiple cats and fare increase on holidays. Among them, the prices of more than half of the "pet caregivers" are between 31 yuan and 40 yuan, and the average prices are 35.9 yuan/time and 37.7 yuan/time respectively; The average price of fare increase for "pet tutors" whose door-to-door distance exceeds 1km is 6.6 yuan/time, and the average price of fare increase for feeding one more cat is 7.4 yuan/time.

On holidays, almost all "pet caregivers" will increase their prices, with the range of 11-30 yuan/time accounting for over 70%, and the average price is 25.7 yuan. According to the lowest price during the Spring Festival, the daily price of feeding a cat at home is 99.3 yuan/day. Door-to-door feeding service can be selected once every 2-3 days, and the total cost during the Spring Festival is about 200-300 yuan, which is more cost-effective and cost-effective than pet foster care shops that have to pay every day.

Pet foster care business continues to heat up

There are more than 30,000 related enterprises registered in China.

The data shows that in 2023, the number of pet dogs in China was 51.75 million, an increase of 1.1% over 2022; The number of pet cats is 69.8 million, an increase of 6.8% compared with 2022; The consumption market of urban pets (dogs and cats) is 279.3 billion yuan, an increase of 3.2% compared with 2022. In the pet consumption market of more than 200 billion yuan, more and more pet supporting services are applied. The pet business is said to be a gold-sucking business for enterprises, and more and more brands are eyeing the pet service.

Before the Spring Festival this year, Box Horse APP launched the Spring Festival pet door-to-door feeding and dog walking service in Shanghai. Professional pet companions have more than one year’s experience in raising pets independently, and broadcast live video of the whole process to the owner.

It is reported that the service can only be used during the Spring Festival, and the date can be from the 27th of the twelfth lunar month to the 7th day of the first lunar month. The main contents of the service are changing water and feeding food at home, walking the dog and playing with you. This service was completed by the cooperation of Box Horse and unigo, a pet service brand. The company was established in June 2022, and mainly engaged in pet bathing, pet grooming, dog walking and door-to-door feeding services.

At present, there are more than 30,000 enterprises in China whose enterprise names, business scope or products and services include "pet foster care", and most of these enterprises were established between 2016 and 2020. Among them, in 2016, the registered growth rate of "pet foster care" related enterprises was the fastest, reaching 96.8%; In 2019, the number of registered enterprises related to "pet foster care" was the largest, reaching 7880. In terms of geographical distribution, Shanghai has the largest number of "pet foster care" related enterprises, reaching 3898; In addition, the number of "pet foster care" related enterprises in Guangdong Province and Jiangsu Province also exceeds 2,000.

Whether foster care or door-to-door feeding, there are certain security risks. In pet foster care, it is difficult to guarantee the sanitation of foster care environment, and pet shop staff are not well cared for. In the aspect of door-to-door feeding, it is not uncommon that the property of the pet owner is lost and the door-to-door feeding personnel are bitten by pets during feeding. At present, the pet foster care industry is still in an "extensive" state, and there is no unified service standard for pet foster care in the industry. In the future, the pet industry still needs to be further standardized to reduce security risks, so that this service can develop more sustainably.

* Data sources: Tianyancha, Maoxiang applet, public comments, Billion Power and other public information.