This week’s announcement by Nationwide Insurance about its partnership with Walmart to sell pet health insurance should stimulate your thinking. Walmart already offers prescriptions from its pharmacies at a discount to Nationwide policyholders, and selling Nationwide pet insurance on the Walmart website will certainly make Nationwide’s pet insurance more broadly available. According to industry statistics from the North American Pet Health Insurance Assoc., slightly less than 4.0 million pets were insured in the US in 2021 (the last year statistics were available), with that number growing from 17% to 28% per year. This calculates to a market share of about 2.5% of the pets in the US in 2021. Clearly there is an opportunity to grow the number of insured pets to the benefit of all veterinary service providers.
When the world’s largest retailer and a top 10 US property and casualty insurance company partner to offer pet health insurance, we can expect a significant impact. Walmart houses a growing number of pet clinics within its stores across the US, so today’s business model for delivering veterinary service will continue to change and evolve. The already enormous pressures on the traditional delivery model for veterinary services will continue to build, and successful practices and suppliers will prepare themselves to adapt. How will these changes affect your business? Are you ready?
Jim Kroman
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