Pet industry expenditure. Case study of Metropolitan France: struggling pet owners and a promising market with constant innovations
Pires, Aurelie (2020)
2020
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2020061218528
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2020061218528
Tiivistelmä
This thesis is based on the researcher’s interest. The motivation of the writer comes from a personal story with pet sitting and a deep interest for the pet industry.
One out of two French households have a pet. This makes France the 9th country with the most dogs in the world. However, France is also the country with the most drop-outs in Europe. The intent of this thesis is to understand what the requirements are to find a pet sitter considering the lack of facilities in French cities and how does start-ups interact in this process with answering the following questions:
Identify key requirements to find a pet sitter; to what extend does French cities suffer from a lack of dog facilities and does the criteria of choosing a pet sitter match with the new pet sitting solutions offered by startups?
The target group is the millennial and Generation Z consumers. The research methods chosen for the thesis are both qualitative and quantitative methods (mixed method). A case study approach is chosen for this thesis and the results of the research are valid only to the limited area, therefore, the conclusions should not be generalized to other places.
The conclusion establishes that the main requirement to find a pet sitter is the familiarity with the person. The aim is to provide a familiar and safe environment for the pet to avoid stress and sadness. In order to do so, people are ready to spend more but they need to hear advocacy from someone they know or online (word of mouth). However, France seems to be far behind other countries regarding dog facilities. Even if the number of grooming and veterinary is enough, parks and doggy-parks such as in Germany, Finland or USA are lacking. Investing in dog facilities could contribute to city branding and attract new comers.
Dog owners do not welcome robotic pet sitting solutions. Platforms that create link between owners and pet sitters are more requested as it generates human contact. French cities did not adapt to the evolution in the relation of dogs and their owners. It would be interesting to conduct the same study over different period of time to measure this evolution and identify it in different cities.
One out of two French households have a pet. This makes France the 9th country with the most dogs in the world. However, France is also the country with the most drop-outs in Europe. The intent of this thesis is to understand what the requirements are to find a pet sitter considering the lack of facilities in French cities and how does start-ups interact in this process with answering the following questions:
Identify key requirements to find a pet sitter; to what extend does French cities suffer from a lack of dog facilities and does the criteria of choosing a pet sitter match with the new pet sitting solutions offered by startups?
The target group is the millennial and Generation Z consumers. The research methods chosen for the thesis are both qualitative and quantitative methods (mixed method). A case study approach is chosen for this thesis and the results of the research are valid only to the limited area, therefore, the conclusions should not be generalized to other places.
The conclusion establishes that the main requirement to find a pet sitter is the familiarity with the person. The aim is to provide a familiar and safe environment for the pet to avoid stress and sadness. In order to do so, people are ready to spend more but they need to hear advocacy from someone they know or online (word of mouth). However, France seems to be far behind other countries regarding dog facilities. Even if the number of grooming and veterinary is enough, parks and doggy-parks such as in Germany, Finland or USA are lacking. Investing in dog facilities could contribute to city branding and attract new comers.
Dog owners do not welcome robotic pet sitting solutions. Platforms that create link between owners and pet sitters are more requested as it generates human contact. French cities did not adapt to the evolution in the relation of dogs and their owners. It would be interesting to conduct the same study over different period of time to measure this evolution and identify it in different cities.