Expanding the Pet Kingdom The company intends to enable pet parenting by bringing the best brands around the world at reasonable prices to pet parents across India while expanding its healthcare vertical with a focus on teleconsultation for both healthcare and training

"My fashion philosophy is if you're not covered in dog hair, your life is empty," said Elayne Boosler, American comedian. The concept of keeping pets originated in the 18th century. European royalty started making garments with special pockets for stashing small dogs indicating they were indeed pets rather than work animals. Love for pets of late has witnessed a massive attention. Pet adoption saw record numbers during the pandemic.

Supertails.com was started in 2021 to be an ally for pet parents and not sell products and services which became a differentiating factor from other players. The founders understood the love pet parents have for their fur babies as well as the challenges they face.

"We believe in maintaining friendships and "furrendships" within our team, our customers and with the pets. What further acted as a catalyst was the fact that there is an increasing number of pet parents in India, especially youngsters. As the world stepped out of a pandemic, India's pet care market bloomed in a tough economic situation as people took to pet ownership. This was fuelled by the increased need for companionship amid loneliness," said Vineet Khanna, co-founder, Supertails.com.

The company intends to build for these first-time parents who need guidance and one-tap access to everything related to pet care with the vision to create a platform that makes pet parents' lives easier. From providing pet nutrition to round-the-clock pet care and consultation, the company aims to build a platform that integrates products, services and communities.

The company offers the largest assortment of over 10,000 SKUs and 200-plus partner brands across pet food, treats, accessories, grooming, etc. Supertails.com also has three warehouses to manage the orders it receives to ensure superfast delivery to its customers. The concentration of orders is high in three cities: Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.

The co-founders started by conducting substantial research on the history of pet-human relationships and how they have evolved while talking to the GenZ and Millennials about their feelings toward their pets, as well as what they believe is lacking in the pet care industry and how it can be improved. The co-founders soon discovered a gap in the market.

"We realized that even in an economic downturn pet parents would ensure that only the best is being offered to their fur babies. Young Indian pet parents want to invest in pet care and are looking for modern, convenient and easily accessible solutions. They just don't know where to look. This is because of a lack of education and awareness among pet parents when it comes to the pet-care category. While nutrition and pet-pampering services are new categories, something as basic as 'pet foods' has not penetrated the Indian market. It forms the biggest component of the industry and has only 7 per cent penetration in India which stands at about 80 per cent in the West," said Varun Sadana, co-founder, Supertails.com.

The organized pet care market is estimated today to be at $1 billion growing at a compound annual growth rate of 30 per cent. There has been substantial growth in multiple categories such as dental health, hairball control, health products, functional supplements, etc., showing that the pet care industry has huge potential in the future.

According to the co-founders, the challenges were similar to those faced by other early-stage companies. However, the channel through which the company conducted operations was quite different.

"The most significant challenge we faced is a lack of education and awareness among pet parents in the pet care category as 90 per cent of our consumers are new pet parents. While many were becoming pet parents for the first time, most of them did not have the access to the required information to perform their roles well. Another issue is that pet food, which is the most important component of the industry, has only 7 per cent penetration in India, whereas it is around 80 per cent in the West. We are striving to bridge the gap between these differences to achieve our goal of creating a fully functional ecosystem for pet parents in India," said Aman Tekriwal, co-founder, Supertails.com.

The company plans to establish and expand Supertails.com and position the brand as a leader in the e-commerce space across the country. The company intends to enable pet parenting by bringing the best brands around the world at reasonable prices to pet parents across India while expanding its healthcare vertical with a focus on teleconsultation for both healthcare and training. The company is also looking forward to strengthening its supply chain to improve the overall delivery experience and expand its same-day and next-day delivery base across the country. The co-founders intend to double down on building innovative tech which includes the app along with building a D2C brand Henlo. Supertails.com will also focus on expanding to more verticals and innovating the post-sale experience for its consumers. The ultimate goal is to create a pet care ecosystem enabling more people to be pet parents.