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A benchmarking survey of 457 pet care operators across nine countries found boarding accounted for 42.1% of reported revenue, ahead of daycare, training and grooming. The results also point to the role of repeat customers and add-on purchases, while newer businesses were less likely than older ones to report owner income.
Pet boarding accounted for 42.1% of revenue reported by 457 pet care operators in a benchmarking survey, making it the largest revenue category among the services measured. The survey, conducted by The Dog Gurus, the International Boarding & Pet Services Association (IBPSA) and PocketSuite, also found that repeat customers and add-on services were common across respondents.
Daycare represented 21.7% of reported revenue, followed by training at 19.3% and grooming at 10.1%, according to the survey results reported by GlobalPETS. The figures describe the revenue mix among respondents; the source does not provide a separate estimate for the wider global pet care market.
The survey collected responses from March 2 to April 7 and included operators in nine countries. Respondents were concentrated in the United States, which accounted for 93% of the sample. Canada represented 4%, Australia 2% and the United Kingdom 1%; Algeria, China, Mexico, Sweden and New Zealand each accounted for less than 1%.
Boarding also had the highest reported capacity use: six in 10 respondents said it averaged at least 50% of capacity over the year. The comparable shares were five in 10 for daycare, 36% for grooming and 33% for training. At peak periods, 27% said they were typically fully booked two to three weeks ahead, while 13% said they were not typically fully booked.
Repeat Clients Support Operator Revenue
The results suggest boarding is a central revenue source for the operators surveyed, while demand and income are not uniform across service types or business ages. More than half of respondents said at least 75% of their monthly revenue came from repeat customers, pointing to customer retention as an important part of their business model.
Add-on purchases also feature in the findings: 71% said at least one in 10 customers bought services beyond a base booking. That may give operators another way to earn revenue from existing clients, although the survey does not quantify how much add-ons contributed to total sales or profits.
The owner-income figures show a difference by tenure. Overall, 86% said they received personal income from their business in the past year. That share was 91% among businesses operating for more than 10 years, compared with 54% for those operating for less than three years. The figures do not establish why the gap exists, but they show that revenue opportunities do not necessarily translate into personal income for newer operators.
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A Sample Weighted Toward U.S. Businesses
The survey describes a varied group by age and size, but its geographic coverage was heavily weighted toward the United States. Forty-one percent had operated for more than 15 years, and 32% had been in business for six to 15 years. The remaining 27% had operated for one to five years.
Most respondents reported running a single location: 81% operated one site, while 8% had at least two locations. The source does not specify the location count for the remaining businesses. It also says 57% owned the property where their facility was based and 35% rented or leased it.
Reported year-over-year business results ranged from no change to growth of more than 21% for 60% of respondents; 17% reported declines ranging from 3% to more than 21%. These are respondent-reported outcomes, not audited financial results. Owner satisfaction varied as well: 42% said they were happy with their business income, 33% were satisfied, and 25% were not happy.
Limits of the Survey Findings
The results are based on a survey rather than a census of pet care operators. Because 93% of respondents were in the United States, the findings should not be read as a balanced measure of operators across all global markets. The source does not give a margin of error, explain how participants were recruited, or provide country-level revenue breakdowns.
The year the survey was conducted is not stated in the supplied report, which identifies only the March 2 to April 7 field period. The published results also do not show average revenue or profit in currency terms, nor do they establish that boarding’s revenue share caused higher owner income. The reported differences by business tenure are descriptive and do not account for other possible factors such as scale, location or operating costs.
Labor figures add a cost measure but do not resolve profitability: 20% reported spending less than $75,000 on labor in the last fiscal year, 35% spent $75,000 to $369,999, and another 35% spent $370,000 to $2.99 million. The source does not identify the spending range for the remaining respondents or give enough detail to compare labor costs with revenue.
More Detail Needed for Comparisons
The report’s immediate contribution is a benchmark for operators comparing service mix, capacity, customer retention and owner income. No follow-up release or next survey date is specified in the source material.
Further detail would help readers judge how broadly the results apply, including the survey year, recruitment method, respondent counts by country and business size, and financial results broken down by service and tenure. Until those details are available, the reported percentages offer a snapshot of the surveyed businesses rather than a forecast for the wider pet care industry.
Key Questions
What share of surveyed operators’ revenue came from boarding?
Boarding accounted for 42.1% of reported revenue, the largest share among the four service categories listed.
Which services followed boarding?
Daycare represented 21.7% of revenue, training 19.3%, and grooming 10.1%, according to the survey results.
How many operators took part?
The survey included 457 pet care operators across nine countries. The sample was concentrated in the United States, which accounted for 93% of respondents.
What did the survey find about repeat customers?
More than half of respondents said at least 75% of their monthly revenue came from repeat customers. The survey did not report the exact revenue share for each business.
Did most owners report receiving income from their businesses?
Overall, 86% said they received personal income from their business in the past year. The reported share was 54% for businesses operating less than three years and 91% for those operating more than 10 years.
Source: globalpetindustry.com
