The e-commerce company will add various plans to the offerings it sells for furry family members.
Chewy has announced that among the products it sells for animal family members, it will now be adding Trupanion pet insurance plans starting in spring 2022.
The online retailer’s customer base is 20 million strong and will soon be able to purchase coverage.
The pet insurance plans will be sold under the company’s Chewy Health brand, which also includes a range of other types of wellness products. The Chewy Health branded plans will provide Trupanion coverage. This will allow the animal wellness and coverage plans to be designed specifically for the retailer’s customers.
The coverage will be provided by Trupanion and Chewy will be using that insurer’s software for providing veterinarians and animal health care providers with direct payment.
“The launch of customized care plans specifically designed for our customers is an important enhancement to the Chewy Health ecosystem, advancing our mission to make pet healthcare more affordable and accessible for all pet parents,” explained the head of Chewy Health, Mita Malhotra.
Trupanion plans are issued in the United States by American Pet Insurance Company.
In Canada, the Trupanion plans will be issued by Omega General Insurance Co. Chewy is a PetSmart LLC controlled company. That company is owned by a consortium which includes private investment funds.
Animal health coverage is a rapidly growing category, particularly over the last few years. That said, it remains small, meaning that there is still tremendous room for additional growth. According to the North American Pet Health Insurance Association (NAPHIA) the sector in North America was greater than $2.174 billion last year. That represented a massive 26 percent year over year leap. Moreover, 2020 was also the sixth consecutive year in which the sector experienced a growth rate in the double digits.
“Last year, we saw the stay-at-home and work-from-home measures introduced during the pandemic create even closer bonds between pet owners and their pets,” said NAPHIA executive director Kristen Lynch. “We believe these strong human-animal relationships are driving pet owners’ desire to address financial uncertainty by mitigating unexpected veterinary costs, contributing to our record 2020 results, in a year that also saw new pet purchases and adoptions reach record levels.”
There are over 3.4 million animals in North America with pet insurance coverage. Of those insured animals, 3.1 million are in the United States, comprising $1.99 of the total premium.
