Veterinary Industry Summary: September 24–30, 2023
Stats from the Veterinary Industry Tracker powered by Vetsource and AVMA
September 24–30, 2023
Walmart is diving deeper into pet care, which could mean changes for veterinary care providers and pet retailers in the coming years.
Pet services aren’t new to Walmart. In 2016, the retailer began renting space inside its stores to veterinary care company PetIQ to offer veterinary and grooming services for pet owners. Since then, the service has expanded to more than 65 Walmart stores.
But this latest venture is different: Walmart’s pet services center has its own dedicated entrance next to a store, and it carries the Walmart name, although employees of PetIQ staff it.
The pilot location opened September 20 in a suburb of Atlanta, and Walmart plans to open more locations, although the company hasn’t disclosed how many pet care centers it plans to open over the next year.
In addition to opening the center, Walmart launched a free membership program called Walmart+, which allows customers to receive automated shipments of their frequent pet food and supplies orders. It also includes a free one-year membership to Pawp, a pet telehealth service.
According to CNBC, Kaitlyn Shadiow, vice president of merchandising for pets for Walmart U.S., said, “We know pet services is an important need for our customers and we want to be able to provide that all in one place.”
The American Pet Products Association reported that $136.8 billion was spent on pets in 2022, a 10.8% increase compared to 2021. As veterinary visits per practice are down compared to last year, the increase in pet spending means more companies are seeking to benefit from the pet services space, adding even more options for pet care.
Check out the Veterinary Industry Tracker for daily stats.
| +6.2% Revenue YoY (Last Week) |
-0.5% Visits YoY (Last Week) |
Year-over-year revenue and visits improved last week. Revenue was up 6.2% compared to 2.4% the week prior, and visits improved to -0.5% from -3.4% the previous week.
 -6.3%Heartworm YoY |
-3.3% Flea/Tick YoY |
 +8.2%Services YoY |
+1.4% Products YoY |
While still down year over year, months of parasiticide protection dispensed improved last week compared to the previous week. Year-over-year heartworm was down -6.3%, an improvement from -8.5% the week prior, and flea/tick was down -3.3% compared to -7.0% the previous week. Revenue from services and products also improved, with year-over-year services revenue up 8.2% and year-over-year products revenue up 1.4%, improvements from the prior week’s 3.9% and -1.4% respectively.
| +6.6% Revenue YoY (Last 12 Months) |
-1.8% Visits YoY (Last 12 Months) |
The rolling 14-day trendline shows year-over-year revenue and visits continuing to decline slightly after a small rebound in mid-September.
| 5,029 Practices |
2.0M Revenue per Practice (Last 12 Months) |
10.4K Visits per Practice (Last 12 Months) |
Massachusetts and Tennessee continued to experience the highest average growth in year-over-year revenue and visits respectively last week. Massachusetts’ year-over-year revenue was up 11.7%, while Tennessee’s year-over-year visits were up 2.7%.
For daily state-specific stats, see the Premium Veterinary Industry Tracker at VeterinaryAnalytics.com.
*Numbers are subject to change based on data availability and PIMS adjustments.
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