31st August 2023

Is Home Delivery Worth It?

cat at home because their owner has home delivery

You’ve run a successful Pet Health Plan for many years and have looked at the idea of adding home delivery to your offering. Before you decide you’ll want to know more about the cost to you and your clients to weigh up if it is all worth it.

In a world where consumer purchase habits are ever-changing, along with the average age of a new pet owner falling, the needs of your customers are changing too.

In this article we will take you through the factors that dictate the price of home delivery and how you may be able to add more value for your clients.

How much does home delivery cost?

Adding home delivery to an active health plan costs £1.50 per month, per pet and full tracking is coming very soon! Click here to register your interest https://premiervetalliance.com/uk/contact/

Typically, we will review your plan price and include the monthly home delivery cost in the clients’ health plan cost, so that you don’t miss out, financially.

What does this service give you?

Clients receive a quarterly delivery of almost any parasiticide product – this is organised through our industry leading technology and directly links to your wholesaler to ensure it doesn’t impact your rebates or require any involvement from you in the delivery process.

Additional perks include:

Access to e-prescriptions
Prescription management tools
Delivery Management
- Inc. owner delivery updates through the app

To ensure consistent arrival times, our ‘Post2Pet’ service entrust Royal Mail with most of our deliveries, and they’ve successfully distributed preventative medication for us for more than four years.

How does it help my practice?

In a world where we have our groceries, birthday gifts and Saturday night takeaways delivered to our front door, it stands to reason your clients would also want one of the most important, time sensitive items on their shopping list delivered, exactly when they need it.

Research suggests 59% of new pet owners are under the age of 35 and we know from other studies that this demographic significantly benefits from and partakes in quick commerce in other industries. By choosing home delivery, pet owners not only receive regular product dispensed throughout the year, but they save vital time on collection and increase compliance from 67 to 100% – contributing to healthier pets.

For the practice, the benefits of utilising home delivery are:

Supports Dr/Vet and practice ethos on preventative care
Increases compliance from 68%* (typical plan compliance) to 100%
Consistent, guaranteed income source for your practice
Contributes to net growth of health plan
Significantly reduced outside pharmacy requests
Improved stock control – less unused medication
Improved cash-flow – products paid for after despatch, not up front
Secures client loyalty and bonding
Gives you a competitive advantage

*Analysis carried out on PVA practices’ standard plan compliance data*

Increased quality interactions

The major positive to home delivery though, in addition to all the above, is the increased engagement you have with a client, because of the variety of positive communication you now have with them.

You might think that seeing a client less regularly to collect a prescription is decreasing your bond with them, but in fact it is increasing their loyalty because home delivery makes it easier for clients to provide premium care to their pet. This means that pet owners’ see tangible value in their plans and cancellations are reduced.

Not to mention it enables them to take something off their ‘to-do’ list with zero planning, zero effort or little thought. It therefore acts as a trigger to think about what’s next for their pet or their next interaction with your practice – leading ultimately to increased pet lifetime value and health plan net growth.

The downside

Of course, nothing is ever perfect and relying on the delivery of anything can be precarious at times, with the occasional late pick up, or driver error – The failure rate is extremely low, however, you may want more information on this.

You may also feel that your older clients won’t want to have products delivered or that they like to visit you on a regular basis. Whilst this may be true of a small proportion, research carried out by Statista on who purchases online, 65% of over 65s buy online regularly, up from 34% in 2012! Coupled with a reduction in cancellations from plan members who receive deliveries, the evidence is fairly clear. Pet owners of all ages prefer their purchases delivered!

What’s next?

The only way to truly know if this will work for your practice is to schedule a call with one of Premier Vet Alliance’s business coaches HERE.

Once you understand the service and impact and knowing the costs and benefits you will be better prepared to ask the questions you may have and make an informed decision.