How travel is driving new market opportunities for pet accessories

Travel: fun for pets?

As travel becomes ever cheaper and easier, more people are on the move. Meanwhile, pets are increasingly being considered as valued family members, meaning that owners often do not want to leave home without them. A combination of these two trends has led to increased opportunities to target those travelling with their pets, with specific products or services.

There are many bespoke travel products – such as harnesses and carriers – which are extremely useful for keeping pets safe when on the move. However, the emotional side is often overlooked. Clearly, pets do not know or appreciate where they are going, and often find the change in routine and environment to be stressful.

Alleviating anxiety

There are various pharmaceutical products available to alleviate travel anxiety. And as consumers are becoming increasingly aware of and interested in natural solutions, a wide choice of homeopathic solutions is flooding the market. These range from pheromone collars, camomile to CBD hemp-based tablets and even lavender oil. Simply sprinkle the latter inside a pet carrier for a calming effect!

Dealing with new travel regulations

Sadly, travel anxiety is currently also prevalent in humans as COVID-19 related restrictions and regulations make travel a minefield of ifs and buts. This is creating an unprecedented demand for new and different pet travel services. Most of these revolve around helping anxious pet owners to mitigate risky situations or guide them safely through new travel rules and regulations.

For example, different airlines now have varying policies regarding whether pets are allowed in the cabin with their owners or can only travel in the hold. Rather than risk being turned away and unable to travel, many pet owners are turning to pet travel advisory services to help them plan and book their trip. In fact, companies such as LadyHaye in the UK, or Happy Tails in the US take the hard work and worry out of trip planning.

COVID-19 and new business opportunities

Private jet charter company GlobeAir estimates the COVID-19 risk is 30 times lower on a chartered aircraft than on a commercial one. Not surprisingly, therefore, private jet hire has increased considerably. It is how the super wealthy circumvent crowded airports and shared cabin space altogether.

What we see, is that anxiety can drive pet owner needs and open up new revenue opportunities for industry. Currently, COVID-19 is creating all sorts of new and different challenges for pet owners and their animals, so it is worth considering how your business can cater to the ‘new normal’ with either existing or new products and services.