Sowapi is already successfully active in the French-speaking part of Switzerland and would now like to expand its services to the German-speaking part. It offers the core services of pet walks, family guesthouses and home visits. Within the scope of our bachelor thesis, we were requested to analyse the market attractivity of the new region, formulate an appropriate go-to-market strategy and investigate the potential of a B2B business model, which would offer various benefits for businesses in the pet sector, such as veterinary and pet groomers.

Existing literature about animal welfare, characteristics of a market entry strategy, advertisement of an application, and cultural differences was examined. The market entry strategy and a possible advertising strategy for the application were developed based on the responses from conducted the online survey. The competitor analysis visualizes where Sowapi stands in the Swiss-German market. Furthermore, interviews were held to analyse the B2C relationships further. To investigate the possibilities of a B2B business model for Sowapi, an interview with a potential partner was conducted.

The online survey shows a general interest of pet owners as well as potential pet sitters in using the online application of Sowapi in the Swiss-German-speaking region. Similar needs in the western part of Switzerland can be observed as in the German-speaking region. Pet owners’ highest interest is services for dogs and cats for short-term care, mainly weekly and during working hours or vacations. Potential pet sitters are mostly interested in offering short-term pet care services. Concerning the promotion of Sowapi in the Swiss-German market, targeting based on different age groups can be made. The most promising channels for advertisements are Instagram, Facebook and Google. No major cultural differences between the Swiss-French and Swiss-German regions could be identified. Both types of interviews that were conducted cannot provide conclusive results due to the small number of interviews. However, the B2B interview indicates a first positive result concerning a B2B business model for the German-speaking part of Switzerland. According to the competitors’ analysis, Sowapi has good preconditions for entering the new target market.