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by MoeGo on Sep 9, 2025 11:50:54 PM
The pet grooming industry is booming. With the global market projected to grow from $6.89 billion in 2024 to $134.71 billion by 2030 (Grand View Research, 2024), opportunities for mobile groomers have never been greater.
Mobile grooming stands at the intersection of two powerful trends: premiumization of pet care and consumer demand for convenience.
Pet parents, especially millennials and Gen X, are willing to invest in high-end, stress-free services that put pets first. For mobile grooming professionals, this is a chance to move beyond the limits of a single van and scale into thriving multi-van or even franchise businesses.
This white paper provides both market insights and a practical Scaling Checklist, with real-world lessons from Chris & Emily Elias of DapperTails, who scaled from one van to 18 mobile salons across three states.
Understand the Market Opportunity
U.S. Market Size: USD 2.06 Billion and Growing
North America currently leads the pet grooming industry, holding over 40% of the global market. In the U.S. alone, the pet grooming market reached $2.06 billion in 2023, growing at 7.2% annually (IBISWorld, 2024).
The growth of pet care establishments over the past 15 years highlights just how much opportunity exists for businesses that choose to scale. The chart from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2024) reveals the industry's biggest open secret: the landscape is consolidating, and the winners are thinking bigger. While the majority of these businesses are still run with fewer than five employees, the most significant growth has occurred in businesses with 5–19 employees.
Why? Because scale unlocks advantages solo operators can't match: branded customer experiences, efficient marketing budgets, and the ability to attract top talent with career paths.
Service Type & Trends
Specifically, dogs dominate demand, accounting for 83% of market share, led by pet humanization, premiumization, and demand for specialized care (Grand View Research, 2024). Mobile grooming is uniquely positioned to dominate this growth:
- Premium Service Alignment: As the massage/spa segment grows fastest at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.33%, mobile operators can leverage their one-on-one, low-stress environments to upsell luxury add-ons (e.g., blueberry facials, paw treatments) at 20-40% premiums.
- Indoor Dominance → Mobile Disruption: Though indoor services hold 67.75% market share, mobile’s convenience (no travel anxiety, home sanitization control) is converting salon clients—especially in high-growth markets like North America (40% global share) and Asia-Pacific (8.92% CAGR).
Who’s Driving Growth: Generational Spending Trends
Understanding who is driving market growth is key to targeting your services and pricing. Consumer expenditure data reveals a seismic shift.
Generational data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2024) highlights a steady rise in pet care expenditures across cohorts, with particularly sharp increases among Generation X and millennials:
- Baby Boomers: Spending rose modestly, up 6.9% between 2017–2021 (from $88 to ~$94 annually).
- Generation X: Spending surged 67.6% in the same period, climbing from $55 to about $92.
- Millennials: Spending rose even faster, up 75.1%, from $38 in 2017 to $67 in 2021.
Scaling only makes sense if the market supports it—and right now, pet care demand is booming. 97% of U.S. pet owners now consider their animals family members (Pew Research, 2023), fueling unprecedented demand for premium, personalized care.
The Takeaway
- Your most valuable and growing clients are time-poor, convenience-seeking Gen X and Millennial professionals who view premium pet care as a non-negotiable.
- They are not price-sensitive; they are value-sensitive.
What This Means for Mobile Grooming
Mobile grooming is uniquely positioned to capture this market: Its combination of home convenience, one-on-one attention, and stress-free experiences allows operators to command 20-40% price premiums over salon services (IBISWorld, 2024).
Mobile grooming is not a niche alternative to salon services. It is a premium delivery model that directly solves the core frustrations of the modern, high-value pet owner:
- Flexibility & Convenience: Pet parents increasingly value services that adapt to their lifestyle. Mobile eliminates travel stress for both pets and owners.
- Premium Service Positioning: Grooming vans deliver a luxury experience—personalized, exclusive, and family-like.
- Scalable Model: Each van equals a new revenue stream. Adding a van is faster and less capital-intensive than building a new salon.
- Tech-enabled Efficiency: With the right systems, including online booking, automated communication, and no-show protection, mobile groomers can run lean, profitable operations.
For example, DapperTails’ premium service model, featuring climate-controlled vans, individualized sessions, and health-focused add-ons like teeth brushing, generated a higher customer lifetime value than traditional salons in their markets.
Like Chris said, “This isn’t just grooming on wheels. It’s a white-glove service.” The lesson? Flexibility isn’t a perk – it’s your premium pricing engine.
The Rise of Pet Tech: Tools Powering Scale
The shift towards premiumization and scalability is being accelerated by a fundamental change in operational philosophy: pet-specific technology.
According to Arizton's U.S. Pet Grooming and Boarding Market – Focused Insights 2024–2029, the rapid adoption of pet technology is reshaping pet grooming businesses, moving them from a hands-on trade to a data-driven, efficient, and highly responsive service industry.
The New Labor Model: Fueled by Platforms
As the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows, there is a massive, parallel growth in both payroll workers and self-employed workers. This is proof of the gig economy effect in pet care: technology platforms did not replace jobs; they created a new, flexible employment category and fueled overall industry growth.
- The Self-Employed Boom: The number of self-employed pet care workers more than tripled from 2004 to 2021 (~5,000 to ~17,800). This explosion was directly enabled by "smartphone technology and platform applications [that] make it possible for independent pet care service providers to reach a much larger pool of potential customers" (U.S. BLS, 2024). These platforms lowered the barrier to entry, allowing skilled groomers to easily start their own mobile businesses.
- The Payroll Growth: At the same time, hours worked by payroll employees also surged, indicating that the entire market was expanding. Established businesses were growing their teams to meet soaring demand.
The Strategic Move for Scaling Businesses
This trend creates a critical mandate for ambitious business owners: Leading businesses are no longer competing on grooming skills alone. They are competing on customer experience and operational excellence, both of which are powered by integrated software platforms.
Pet parents now overwhelmingly prefer and expect the frictionless, mobile-based booking experience they get from digital-based gig economy platforms. To compete and win, scaling businesses must adopt technology to:
- Match the Convenience: Offer the same easy online booking, communication, and payment processing that customers get from mobile-based independents.
- Counter with Superior Value: Leverage technology to deliver a more reliable, branded, and trustworthy experience that gig workers cannot easily replicate, like real-time updates, centralized customer service, and guaranteed quality control.
What This Means for Mobile Grooming
For the mobile grooming operator, this is a tailor-made opportunity. The unique challenges of mobile operations, such as route logistics, decentralized service delivery, and maintaining a personal touch at scale, are precisely what platforms like MoeGo are designed to solve.
- Route Optimization: Smart algorithms can cluster appointments geographically, minimizing fuel costs, reducing drive time, and enabling more appointments per day. This single feature can directly increase revenue per van by 15-20%.
- The Mobile Office: An all-in-one platform transforms your van into a connected, efficient office. From a tablet, a staff member can check their schedule, access client notes, process payments, and request reviews immediately upon service completion.
Case Study: Chris & Emily Elias from DapperTails
What started in 2017 as a single van, run by Chris and Emily Elias, has since grown into a mobile grooming franchise with vans across New York, Florida, and North Carolina.
Their philosophy: Systems > Sweat. Instead of grinding harder, they invested in tools and processes that aallowed them to scale smoothly.
- Online Booking: Streamlined scheduling, made life “easy to implement for clients.”
- Abandoned Booking List: Quoted by Chris as “the money feature,” recovering around $25,000/month in lost bookings.
- Automated Communication: Personalized phone calls supplemented with automated text follow-ups.
- MoeGo Pay & No-Show Protection: Eliminated last-minute cancellations and secured revenue.
“Having MoeGo and putting this platform into effect in our system literally changed our life. We are able to not just scale our Long Island location, but to go national, because the software is flawless.” – Chris Elias
From One Van to a Franchise: How Chris & Emily Elias Scaled with the Right Mindset
The Scaling Checklist for Mobile Grooming Businesses
This checklist is designed to help you track your progress and know exactly what to tackle next.
👉 How to Use This Checklist:
- Audit: Review each phase and check what you’ve already accomplished.
- Prioritize: Focus on 1-2 unchecked items that will have the biggest impact.
- Download: Get Your Printable PDF Checklist
- Track: Revisit quarterly to measure progress and update goals.
The Checklist
Mindset & Pricing Foundation
Shift from Operator to Owner
- Define your weekly “CEO hours” (time spent on the business, not in it)
- Identify 3 tasks to delegate or automate in the next 30 days
Price for Profit, Not Just Survival
- Benchmark your prices against local premium competitors (salons + mobile)
- Raise prices on your most undervalued service by ≥10%
- Implement tiered pricing (e.g., Standard vs. Premium groom)
Target High-Value Clients
- Update your website/social media to explicitly appeal to Gen X/Millennial pet owners
- Create one premium “spa” package (e.g., deshedding + teeth brushing + paw balm)
Systems & Tech Stack
Implement a Centralized Management System
- Adopt grooming software for scheduling, client records, and invoicing
- Set up automated SMS reminders for appointments
- Enable online booking (via website or app)
Optimize Routing & Logistics
- Use GPS route optimization to cluster appointments geographically
- Set a target for appointments per van per day (e.g., 6-8)
- Track fuel/mileage costs monthly to measure efficiency gains
Automate Marketing & Retention
- Set up automated review requests post-appointment
- Create a rebooking prompt (e.g., “Book your next groom now”)
- Build an email list and send a monthly newsletter with grooming tips/offers
Team & Culture
Systemize Hiring & Onboarding
- Create a list of core values to screen for in interviews
- Document step-by-step SOPs for grooming, safety, and client communication
- Develop a 30-day training plan for new hires
Empower Your Team
- Grant groomers access to client notes/preferences in your software
- Implement a performance bonus tied to client retention/reviews
- Hold quarterly team feedback sessions
Scalable Growth
Track Key Metrics Monthly
- Revenue per van
- Client retention rate
- Cost per acquisition (marketing spend ÷ new clients)
Explore Expansion Models
- Test demand in a new zip code (e.g., targeted Facebook Ads)
- Document all processes needed to replicate your model (SOPs, pricing, marketing)
- Evaluate franchise vs. company-owned expansion (consult legal/financial advisors)
The Scalability Quiz: What's Your Growth Profile?
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