Bhoomika Singh
In a world full of dog and cat lovers, there are a few who genuinely want to look after these Pawnimals. Interestingly, India’s urban households are witnessing an increase in the pet adoption ratio since it is an emotionally satisfying pursuit. At the same time, the hectic lifestyles of today have left most urban city dwellers strapped for time, leading to an increased preference for commercially packaged pet foods. This has led to the entry and expansion of many players in the pet care industry in India.
The easy availability of these pet care products is a major attraction for pet parents. Due to the organised sales channels and rising demand, there has been a significant rise in start-ups and D2C websites offering products and services in this arena for a niche audience. One such start-up is Supertails, which is a one-stop haven for all pet parents.
This start-up is led by three ex-Licious executives, Varun Sadana, Vineet Khanna and Aman Tekriwal. In the very short span of just a year, Supertails claims that it has successfully changed the lives of over 50,000 pet parents.
The platform not only provides pet food and essential supplies online, but also offers veterinary care and pet behaviour training. Talking about his start-up, Varun Sadana, the co-founder of Supertails tells SME Futures that his pet care e-commerce platform offers an assortment of pet supplies from India and across the globe with doorstep delivery throughout the country.
“It has now established a robust system with warehouses in three major metropolitan cities that can deliver any pet essentials in 24 hours. Additionally, Supertail is offering 10,000+ consultations covering veterinary healthcare and online training services as well,” he tells us.
Love for pets gave birth to Supertails
“From finding the right food to taking my cat Nifty to the vet, as a pet parent I wanted my experience to be smooth and hassle-free,” says Sadana.
Due to a deep-rooted affinity for animals and being a pet parent himself, Sadana felt that every pet parent should have a smooth and seamless experience. He then realised that there was a vacuum in this space. “I felt that there was an ocean of opportunities that were lying unexplored in this sector,” he reminisces.
That is when the idea of Supertails was born.
This one-of-a-kind e-commerce platform in India for pet care was incepted keeping in mind the ever-increasing pet parent community that continually seeks trustworthy, hassle-free veterinary care as well as a variety of product offerings, Sadana tells us.
“Looking at this loophole in the industry, we formed Supertails with the aim to reimagine pet care in India by bridging the accessibility gap in pet healthcare,” he asserts.
A promising growth
Even though the online pet care segment holds the least market share, it’s growing rapidly due to the newly induced interest in people towards pet parenting.
Also, the increasing population of pets in the country, which is about 32 million and is growing at a positive rate of more than 12 per cent annually, is driving the Indian pet care industry. If we go by the numbers, India’s pet care market is expected to grow to a value of Rs 7,500 crores by the end of the forecast period, according to a report by Research and Markets.
Due to the organised sales channels and rising demand, the online pet store segment is expected to see promising growth with the highest anticipated CAGR of 32.11 per cent from 2021 to 2026. This pet care boom has led to the proliferation of pet start-ups across the country. According to Sadana, this market is witnessing quite a few trends.
Gen Zs & millennials make up most of the pet parents
Currently, young Indians are the ones adopting more pets. That’s why the latest trend in the pet parent community is dominated by Gen Z s and the urban, affluent millennials. These digital-age pet parents are extremely curious and want more credible information about pet care. They are rejecting the previously prevalent concept of ‘pet ownership,’ and are determined to be pet parents.
“Hence, they always want to give the best to their pets and have gone beyond the horizon of just food and supplements and are focusing on health, training, grooming, and overall well-being,” says Sadana.
“To cater to these emerging needs, we at Supertails are aiming to improve the quality and longevity of pets. We are doing this by disseminating the right information through our social handles and by our own in-house brand Henlo,” he further adds.
Market challenges
At the same time, the founders of Supertails acknowledge that they had to face quite a few challenges while setting up their online pet store. To begin with, the consumers in this market are still using the conventional buying methods. Though this experience gives pet parents a feeling of satisfaction and safety for their pet kids. This also implies a lack of awareness about the online options in this sector amongst the consumers.
Talking about the other challenges that consumers face, Sadana says that their team had identified a few others during the inception and establishment of Supertails.
“Some challenges that we faced while establishing our e-commerce platform in the pet care segment were the lack of choices for pet parents when it came to good quality pet care products. There was no access to an assortment of products and discoverability was also low. Finding the right products was a task and pet parents had to face a lot of hassle,” he says.
“Convenience was missing from their lives, not only due to the unavailability of an assortment of products regarding pet care but also due to the inaccessibility of the right information and services. We identified these challenges and made sure that rather than them going to a vet, a vet would come to them to address their issues regarding their pets,” he avers.
The pandemic impelled many towards pet adoption
The pet care market in India is still very niche.
For the market players that’s an advantage as well as a challenge. Discussing about the same, Sadana also agrees that their target audience is extremely niche. “I believe that pet care existed long before we realised its value. People had pets but in the capacity of pet owners,” he comments.
However, he believes that pet adoption had increased in the last few years. “But it was fuelled further by the pandemic when people realised the need for a pet companion,” he points out.
Even though it used to be one, it is no longer a niche market now. Pets have always been around but now the trend of ensuring their wellbeing and pulling out all the stops while doing so has really come to the forefront. People have evolved from being just pet owners to becoming pet parents now and this is driving the growth in this industry, Sadana explains.
Partners, investments and the vision for the future…
The start-up is working on many fronts according to Sadana. He tells us that they are collaborating with ‘We Work’ to host therapy sessions with dogs and to provide essential training and pet lifestyle advice.
Supertails has worked with a variety of brands, including Amazon for the release of their film Oh My Dog. Also, Supertails claims to be the only e-commerce pet care platform that sells Royal Canin prescription diet food. “This is an exclusive launch, and we are on our way to launching more international products to better serve the needs of Indian pet parents,” Sadana informs us.
Supertails’ purpose and vision are backed by high-quality VC investors like DSG Consumer Partners, Saama Capitals, Sauce VC, Deepika Padukone, Titan Capital, and Whiteboard Capital. In terms of revenue, Supertails is recording a monthly growth of more than 30 per cent. “In the next 3 months, we will be servicing more than a lakh customers across India,” he affirms.
Talking about their vision ahead, the co-founder of Supertails tells us that their main aim is to make pet care accessible, hassle-free, and discoverable during all the life stages of a pet. And the first step towards this vision starts with them ensuring free veterinary services to pet parents across the country.
“Not just that, the aim is to help them better understand their health and behavioural needs. We also aim to introduce newer brands in the market, and we want to innovate our own range of new products through Henlo to ensure the longevity of pets,” he states.
