Opinion
The recent Vetwatch™ Commentary provides consistent data to help assess the scope, velocity and significance of developments in the veterinary care sector across the United States. Following more current trends, the national 3-week rolling average for practice revenue growth fell to -9.1 percent. None of the nine census divisions posted positive revenue growth for the current rolling 3-week average.
Indices in the red may or may not be a cause for alarm despite the trends of the last several weeks . . . but may warrant scrutiny.” – Kirk Augustine
The declining trends could be caused by several factors:
- Winter storms and weather across several regions slowing veterinary visits
- A post-holiday slump as families recover from holiday spending
- The effect of surging Covid variants and community decisions
OR . . .
- A plethora of online and home delivery sources that developed proprietary advice teams
- Reduction in the number of new clients and the assimilation of new pets into families and routine veterinary care expectations
- Heavily fatigued veterinary teams reacting to the volume of traffic without efforts to manage retention, return visits and compliance
Source: VetWatch™, through January 22, 2022. Link.
INSIGHTS: In a 2015 survey of veterinary clinics, the client retention rate was 74 percent over a 12-month period for clients active in the past 18 months. This churn rate means that one in four clients will not return. One might project the churn rate has grown since the survey and could be contributing to various declining trends.