Bargaining power of customers

Different clients want different things, and veterinary practices may need to consider becoming more specialised, it was suggested. As the overall pet market was growing, the nature of this ownership was changing, regardless of economic issues. There was a move from solely healthcare-based purchases, to a more ‘hyper-parenting’ method approach, for example, buying organic food, vitamins and even designer clothes for animals. The cost to a consumer of changing their practice was, it was pointed out, next to nothing and, while practices might believe that their client base was loyal, many clients went to more than one practice, and would happily admit this to their vet. ‘They are empowered, they have information and they thrive on information,’ said one participant, discussing the power of the customer and how this had changed with increased use of the web and social media. There was a change in the way that practices were having to market themselves and the most forward-thinking ones were advertising through smartphone-friendly websites and using online analytics to help push the traffic the right way. The groups thought that, as information was freely accessible, customers had changed in the way they interacted with veterinary knowledge; the practice was no longer their first port of call, they may have gone to the internet first. But this presented a great opportunity, they said. Never before had the vet been able to interact so closely with the consumer, and it was this part of the ‘service’ that