Sept 25: A pet owner looking for dog food, a grooming service or a new toy no longer has to walk into the nearest pet shop first. A Google search, Instagram video, online review or e-commerce listing can now be the starting point.
That shift is changing how pet-care businesses find customers.
India’s pet-care industry is growing, and businesses are competing not only on products and services but also on how easily they can be discovered online. For pet-food brands, veterinary clinics, grooming salons, trainers, boarding facilities and pet retailers, digital marketing is becoming a way to reach pet owners before they make a purchase decision.
A Growing Market With Plenty of Room to Expand
India’s pet-care market is estimated at around ₹6,000 crore and could reach ₹10,000 crore by 2028, according to figures cited by IBEF.
There is also considerable room for category expansion. Godrej Consumer Products’ FY2024–25 annual report noted that only about 10% of Indian pet owners feed packaged pet food, and those who do use it for around 40% of feeding occasions.
The numbers highlight an important point for marketers: the opportunity is not limited to persuading existing customers to switch brands. Businesses also have an opportunity to introduce consumers to products and services they may not yet regularly use.
That makes education an important part of digital marketing.
The Pet-Owner Journey Is Moving Online
Today’s pet owner may search online before making even a relatively simple decision.
What food should a puppy eat? How often should a dog be groomed? Which toys are appropriate for a particular age? Where can a pet be boarded during a holiday?
These questions create hundreds of potential digital touchpoints.
A business that answers such questions through useful articles, videos, social media posts and guides can enter the customer’s consideration process much earlier than a traditional advertisement would.
Instead of saying, “Buy our product,” brands can first answer, “What does your pet actually need?”
Search Can Bring Pet Businesses Local Customers
For many pet-care businesses, the most valuable customer may be the one living a few kilometres away.
Someone searching for “dog grooming near me,” “pet clinic near me” or “pet boarding in [city]” already has a specific need.
This is where local SEO becomes important.
Accurate business information, a well-maintained Google Business Profile, genuine customer reviews, location-specific website content and useful service pages can improve a business’s digital visibility.
Consider a neighbourhood grooming salon. A potential customer searches for dog grooming, discovers the salon through Google, checks its photographs and reviews, visits its website or contacts it through WhatsApp, and eventually books an appointment.
The digital journey may have replaced the need for the customer to physically discover the business first.
Social Media Is More Than a Showcase for Cute Pets
Pets are naturally suited to visual content, but businesses need more than photographs of adorable animals to build a useful social presence.
A grooming salon can demonstrate coat-care techniques. A trainer can explain common behavioural issues. A pet retailer can compare different types of toys. A food brand can explain how owners should read product labels.
The best-performing content does not necessarily have to look like advertising.
It can answer a question, solve a problem or entertain an audience while keeping the brand visible.
Customer-generated content can add another layer. Real pet owners showing how they use a product can provide a more relatable form of social proof than a conventional advertisement.
Pet Influencers Are Creating New Routes to Consumers
The popularity of pet-focused social accounts has also opened opportunities for influencer marketing.
Brands do not necessarily need celebrities. A smaller creator with a highly engaged community of dog owners, cat owners or pet enthusiasts may have a more relevant audience.
For example, a dog-training creator could demonstrate a training accessory, while a cat-care creator could introduce products designed for indoor cats.
The important question is not simply how many followers a creator has. It is whether those followers are genuinely interested in the category.
E-Commerce Is Changing How Pet Products Are Compared
Pet owners can now compare products from multiple brands without visiting several physical stores.
This puts greater pressure on product pages.
Clear descriptions, good photographs, customer reviews, ingredient information and straightforward explanations can influence whether someone moves from browsing to buying.
The growth of the category makes this increasingly significant. Mordor Intelligence estimates India’s pet-food market at approximately US$0.98 billion in 2026 and projects it to reach US$1.68 billion by 2031.
As online shopping expands, brands will increasingly need to think about how their products appear not only on shelves but also on search results, marketplaces and social platforms.
Reviews Can Become a Digital First Impression
For pet owners, trust matters.
Choosing a veterinarian, grooming salon or boarding facility involves handing over the care of an animal. Product purchases can also involve questions about nutrition, comfort and safety.
That is why online reviews can become an important part of the decision-making process.
A business with an active digital presence but unanswered complaints may create a different impression from one that responds professionally and demonstrates that it listens to customers.
Reputation management, therefore, should not be treated as an afterthought.
Personalisation Can Turn One-Time Buyers Into Repeat Customers
Pet care has another advantage for businesses: many requirements are recurring.
Food needs to be replenished. Grooming appointments return. Toys and accessories are replaced. Pets also move through different life stages and develop changing needs.
Digital marketing can help businesses stay relevant throughout that journey.
A customer who buys puppy food could later receive content about adult-dog nutrition. Someone who books grooming services could receive useful seasonal grooming information.
The objective is not to bombard customers with promotions. It is to remain relevant when a genuine need arises.
A Simple Digital Strategy Can Make a Difference
Take a small pet-grooming business in an urban neighbourhood.
Instead of depending entirely on walk-ins, it could create location-focused service pages, publish grooming tips, maintain its Google Business Profile, encourage genuine customer reviews and post before-and-after grooming content on social media.
A potential customer searching for grooming services could discover the business through Google, check reviews, watch its social content, contact it through WhatsApp and make an appointment.
After the service, the business could request an authentic review and continue sharing useful content.
One customer has then moved through a complete digital journey—from discovery to enquiry, booking, experience and potential repeat business.
The Next Competition May Be for Attention, Not Just Shelf Space
The pet-care opportunity in India is no longer restricted to physical retail.
As the market expands, businesses will increasingly compete for attention across Google searches, social feeds, marketplaces, videos and online communities.
That makes digital marketing particularly relevant to a category where consumers often want information before they want to buy.
The businesses that understand this shift can use content to educate, search to capture demand, social media to build communities and digital communication to maintain relationships.
India’s pet-care market may be growing, but the bigger change could be happening in how pet owners discover what to buy and whom to trust.
For pet-care businesses, the question is therefore moving beyond “How do we sell more pet products?” to “How do we become part of the pet owner’s digital journey?”
