Mumbai: Since 2019, the growth rate of the Indian pet market has increased from 16-17 per cent to upwards of 20 per cent in 2020. In fact, while dog adoption rates have increased by up to 50 per cent by 2020, the cat market has increased by up to 40 per cent. With pets in more than 12 per cent of urban Indian homes, the country is on the threshold of further exponential growth in this industry, similar to what happened in more evolved pet markets like China ($30 billion) and the USA ($105 billion) in the past.
Following the emergence of petcare in the country, Supertails is encashing the space pretty well with 50 per cent month-on-month growth for the last one year.
Supertails is a first-of-its-kind digital platform that supports the ever-increasing pet parent community with a one-stop solution for pet food and supplies.
Launched in 2021 by Vineet Khanna, Varun Sadana, and Aman Tekriwal, the startup provides veterinary care, pet food and supplies, and offers pet training sessions as well. In recent times, Supertails has been the talk of the town, not only for its unique services but for its ad campaigns and exponential growth too.
In conversation with Indiatelevision.com, Supertails co-founder Varun Sadana talks about their advertising strategy for the brand, investors, future plans, and a lot more! He also sheds some light on the growth trajectory of the digital platform.
Prior to Supertails, Varun was the co-founder and COO of Licious. He has also been associated with HUL and Snapdeal in his earlier career. He has pursued his bachelors of technology (mechanical) from the National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra and an MBA in sales and operations from the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow.
Edited excerpts:
On how Supertails started
Varun: Similar to the meat market, the pet market too needs disruption as pets are now seen as companions. The relentless passion for the pet care ecosystem and a vision to make India a pet-friendly nation unites the founders of Supertails with their team of pet care experts and enthusiasts.
Currently, Supertails has over 120 brands in the petcare space, making it the widest assortment of petcare brands on a single platform in the country.
On enthralling investor response
Varun: Supertails, which debuted in 2021, raised $2.6 million in pre-series funding. This welcoming response from the investor brands helped the brand start on a very strong note. The first round of collections saw investors like global Indian icon Deepika Padukone, Kunal Bahl, Titan Capital, Sauce VC, and Whiteboard Capital, among others.
On following the path of growth
Varun: Over the last one year, the digital platform has been growing at a CMGR of over 50 per cent month-on-monthly.
Our business is broken down into our ecommerce platform and our own brand. The e-commerce platform is meant for the Indian population and is working towards a better assortment, discoverability, and pricing of pet products in the country. Supertails offers almost all brands across all relevant categories such as food, toys, grooming, etc., available in India on its platform.
We believe the natural next step for the expansion of this vertical is to bring international brands on an exclusive basis to India.
The market size of the business we’re building is $1-1.5 billion in India as of 2022, and is expected to grow to five billion dollars by 2027.
On genZ centric marketing approach
Varun: Supertails caters to the GenZ pet parent audience. We are aiming to build a brand that makes pet parenting easy and fun for them. When it comes to marketing, we believe that more than the right channel, it’s the right narrative that appeals to the Gen Z consumer.
Media in today’s day and age is extremely porous and we believe in an integrated approach for all our campaigns. While we have always been a digital media first brand, what we really focus on is bringing valuable content to our consumers and then distributing this through multiple avenues. Whether it has been doing brand films with a unique creative approach, i.e., visualising life through a pet’s point of view or having campaigns like "Crime Master Doggo" which surprise our audiences—our approach is always content first.
Sadana noted that more than anything, this market is defined by mindsets, where there is a potential for a paradigm shift just by altering the narrative and starting the right conversations among the consumers, which in the case of Supertails is a tech-savvy GenZ pet parent redefining "family" as being centred on their pet.
On Supertails future
Varun: As the company grows, Supertails plans to support pet parents as they navigate all aspects of pet parenthood, including the decision of bringing home a pet, training and hygiene consultation, raising a healthy and fit companion, and fulfilling all primary needs for the pet.
In three years, supertails.com will be a one-stop shop for all pet product needs with the widest assortment available in India at the best negotiated prices with a robust supply chain in place.
