Dog food as a service? Yes, you are reading it well. For two years I have been taking Vino (Beagle x Kings Charles) to the office on a regular basis. If you have or have had a dog, you probably recognise the moment you forgot to pick up food on a Sunday evening. All stores closed. But you have to go to the local supermarket to get a small bag of food. Not the perfect solution but you don't have a choice. Just like the famous Dollar shave club ( who takes the worry out of delivering a monthly package of razor blades & skin care products) there is now an initiative that has the solution. Dog food as a service. Every month a package of fresh food specially tailored to suit your dog. After a questionnaire, a system with algorithms makes food specially formulated for your dog. Who wouldn't want that?
This brings me to an ever wider movement. Consumers and companies are increasingly opting for convenience and therefore services. In IT, everyone increasingly uses the cloud instead of physical servers. No more hassle with replacing or scaling up servers. But other sectors are also making this change. For example, you can purchase (business) plants as a service from various providers. Complete relief and no more hassle with replacing plants. But private services are also being used more and more. Instead of buying a bike or scooter, people now frequently use a Swap bike or a Gosharing scooter.
Now you might think "my industry is not suitable for providing "services". A few years ago I talked to someone who sold led lights. In one of the conversations we talked about delivering and naming the core of that added value. In essence it wasn't about those lamps but about delivering light. A consumer or company does not want to have to worry about the maintenance or replacement of a lamp, for example. I want to be able to focus on my specialism and added value. I just want light and of course the lowest possible energy bill.
Now, of course, there is a downside to all those services. After all, monthly subscriptions can quickly increase and some contracts cannot be cancelled flexibly. But does that bother you to give it a try?
As far as Vino is concerned... The first order of tailor-made dog food has been placed. Wednesday the "Braised fillet of beef with vegetables in tasty jelly" will be delivered from the UK. Now waiting for the #Welkoop or #Boerenbond to come up with something similar. At this point I would like to register myself as launching customer.
