Introduction
No matter if you’re a pet parent or a pet business owner, you want to know what’s happening in the industry and who are the leaders.
The petcare industry is massive and has many branches: from local shops and store chains to veterinarian clinics and care centers.
In this article, we’re going to show you just that, but with a twist: we’re not naming brands, but states.
Why benchmarks are important
Benchmarks help you position your business in an accurate place compared to other competitors in your industry.
By doing that, you can more easily determine what is the quality of your products and services compared to similar businesses. It’s also a great first step into an in-depth competitor analysis.
Depending on the industry you’re in, you can research various relevant benchmarks for your business and see where it is performing, where it is lacking and how you can improve.
If you are (or want to be) in the petcare industry, this article will provide you with data for customer ratings related benchmarks.
Why online customer reviews are important
Over 99.9% of customers read reviews when they shop online, while 49% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations from friends and family.
Numbers and statistics show us that online customer reviews become more and more relevant for the success of a business.
That’s why companies should start paying more attention to their review monitoring and review management – not only when it comes to benchmarking, but for analyzing the customer sentiment and the quality of their offerings as well.
To learn more about how you can handle your online reviews, preview a demo of our review management software or contact us.
Where are the best and the worst pet care businesses in the United States
We know that pets have diverse needs: from food and toys to healthcare and wellness checks.
Considering this, our report is based on multiple pet-oriented businesses and branches. We wanted to assess the quality of both products and services for pets in all the states of America.
The ratings presented below are an average based on businesses from pet stores and clinics to care centers and groomers. To see all the pet care business types that were integrated into our research, check out our pet care benchmark page.
| Name of the state | Average rating score |
| Alabama | 4.54 |
| Alaska | 4.56 |
| Arizona | 4.47 |
| Arkansas | 4.59 |
| California | 4.51 |
| Colorado | 4.56 |
| Connecticut | 4.49 |
| Delaware | 4.6 |
| Florida | 4.6 |
| Georgia | 4.54 |
| Hawaii | 4.55 |
| Idaho | 4.57 |
| Illinois | 4.5 |
| Indiana | 4.24 |
| Iowa | 4.46 |
| Kansas | 4.57 |
| Kentucky | 4.43 |
| Louisiana | 4.51 |
| Maine | 4.4 |
| Maryland | 4.53 |
| Massachusetts | 4.4 |
| Michigan | 4.54 |
| Minnesota | 4.54 |
| Mississippi | 4.57 |
| Missouri | 4.9 |
| Montana | 4.53 |
| Nebraska | 4.37 |
| Nevada | 4.58 |
| New Hampshire | 4.64 |
| New Jersey | 4.64 |
| New Mexico | 4.4 |
| New York | 4.41 |
| North Carolina | 4.6 |
| North Dakota | 4.6 |
| Ohio | 4.44 |
| Oklahoma | 4.5 |
| Oregon | 4.58 |
| Pennsylvania | 4.55 |
| Rhode Island | 4.25 |
| South Carolina | 4.58 |
| South Dakota | 4.54 |
| Tennessee | 4.55 |
| Texas | 4.43 |
| Utah | 4.62 |
| Vermont | 4.65 |
| Virginia | 4.58 |
| Washington | 4.49 |
| West Virginia | 4.37 |
| Wisconsin | 4.47 |
| Wyoming | 4.61 |
Research highlights
The average rating for pet stores and services in the United States is 4.55.
Missouri is the state with the highest rating (4.9), while Indiana has the lowest rating (4.24).
The best average rating for a certain category of business is 4.8, which is split into 3 branches: veterinarian services, pet boarding services, and equestrian stores.
For the pet store category, the average rating across the US is 4.55.
Why the animal and pet care industry needs review management
As you can see from our research, the animal and pet care industry is not immune when it comes to online customer feedback.
Whether it is about the quality of your products or services or about the customer experience, you have to be aware that your customers will always speak their minds.
Compared to other industries, pet-oriented businesses can be more challenging, as the direct consumer of your product is not the same as the customer who pays for it.
Online reviews are detrimental if you want to attract new customers and keep the existing ones, because they paint an overview picture which, over time, becomes an integral part of your brand reputation.
And how do we know that?
Nestlé is one of the companies that trusts FeedCheck with their review monitoring and review management when it comes to their petcare brands.
FeedCheck gathered over 4 million reviews across multiple platforms for Nestlé’s Purina brands, such as Friskies, Purina One and Beneful.
At the time of writing this article, the average rating of their online feedback from all across the Internet is 4.41 (pretty amazing considering the number of reviews, right?).
Compared to the 4.41 average rating Purina had in August 2023, we can confidently say that FeedCheck helped this global brand maintain their online brand reputation and the quality of their customer feedback.
Conclusions
Ratings are a relevant benchmark that you can take into account whether you are in the animal and pet care industry or in other business areas.
By taking a simple look at an average rating score, you can already sense what the customers think about a certain product or service.
If you want to dig deeper into the world of review management and discover how it can benefit your business, don’t hesitate to contact FeedCheck or get a demo.