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Wondering what to do with Fido when it’s time to head home for the holidays? Considering a pet resort for your best friend while you're away? If so, you’re not alone. Americans spent over $16 Billion dollars in 2003 on pet care services - including boarding, grooming and veterinary services. A good portion of those expenditures were spent on personalized services one would normally reserve for human family members. In fact, to many of us, our pets are part of our family - deserving of gourmet dinners, spa treatments, "vacations" in pet resorts, and days spent in day care.

Pet day cares, an off-shoot of the kennel industry, developed as more two-earner families found little time to spend with their pets. Today, many pet day cares include agility facilities, training, one-on-one attention at playtime and cageless boarding. As the number of two earner families continues to rise, look for spending on these types of specialized services to increase in the coming years. Currently, pet day cares earn over $500 million of the estimated $2.2 billion in services provided for pets (excluding vetinarary services).

Sources:
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4PRN/is_2004_April_15/ai_115339029
http://www.appma.org/press/press_releases/2004/nr_04-22-04.asp

- Carolyn Ellis

Industry Snapshot: Pet Services

In a time when many sectors are only experiencing sluggish growth in a weak economy, the pet industry is one that has not been relegated to the doghouse. According to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association pet spending is projected to be $34.3 billion for 2004.

Take a look at our full industry report on pet services(PDF Format). If you are interested in other industry snapshots, visit our SBDC Business Advisors' Toolkit.

- Jessica Bybee-Dziedzic

Links of Interest

American Pet Association
American Pet Products Manufacturers Association
National Association of Professional Pet Sitters
Pet Industry Distributors Association
Pet Food Manufacturers Association
Veterinary Market Statistics

Did You Know?

SBDCNET's web site (http://sbdcnet.org) is now ranked 7th in Google's Business > Small Business > News and Media category. Thanks to all of you for using and promoting our web site!

For those SBDC Business Advisors who use our online request form, please read your confirmation page carefully for any possible database errors. How will you know if there is an error? The error message will contain the words "Microsoft" and "Error," and will most likely be a few lines long. Reporting of any errors (by email or phone) is greatly appreciated, so that we can address any problems ASAP.

Are You Paying Attention to
Demographic Trends?

Home based businesses are one of the key markets for Small Business Development Center counseling services. But where can you find information about these entrepreneurs? Fortunately, the U.S. Census Bureau just released a report about home workers entitled: Working at Home: 2000. According to this special tabulation of statistics from the 2000 Census, 2.4 million (58%) of the 4.2 million people who worked from home in 2000 were self-employed.

What are the characteristics of these self-employed? More often than not they are white (90.8%), non-Hispanic (95.8%) and operate an unincorporated business (78.9%). Slightly more than half of these self-employed do not have a college degree (56%) and are women (52%). The top three major occupations for the home based self-employed include: Management, Business and Financial Operations (28%); Professional and related occupations (21.4%); and personal care and service occupations (17.1%). Earnings from these businesses varied in 1999, with 18% having less than $2,499 in earnings in 1999 (including losses) while 10% earned $75,000 or more.

Additional information about these self-employed and other home based workers can be found at: http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/census_2000/002966.html.

See also our website for reports about small businesses and small business trends http://sbdcnet.org/SBIC/trends.php.

- Mike Cline

Contact Us

SBDCNET
UTSA Institute for Economic Development
University of Texas at San Antonio
501 W. Durango Blvd.
San Antonio, TX 78207
http://sbdcnet.org/
sbdcnet@utsa.edu
800.689.1912