Smart collar or GPS tracker: which should your brand sell?

It tells the owner about the dog's day. Steps, distance and active time are tracked every day. Calories are shown so owners see how much to feed. Sleep is tracked night by night. A pet profile holds breed, age and photo, and a QR pet ID helps a finder reach the owner.

The owner's reason to open the app is daily and calm. They want to see how the walk went and whether the dog slept well. Nothing has to be wrong for the product to be useful.

A GPS tracker shows the pet's position, so an owner can look for a dog that has gone out of sight. The reason to open the app is often urgent. The product earns its place on the worst day.

I do not make claims about how any GPS product performs, because I do not sell one and I will not describe a category from the outside as though I tested it.

I do not list GPS location as a confirmed feature, so I will not tell you that it does. I also do not claim an LED light, owner voice playback, sound and vibration cues, or a data connection to other software. If any of these is a requirement for you, ask me in writing before you plan anything around it.

I would rather lose a sample request than have a buyer find the gap after a batch has shipped.

• Activity collar: owners who want to understand their dog's routine, look after weight and sleep, and keep an ID on the pet. Brands that want a daily-use product.
• GPS tracker: owners of dogs that roam or escape, who want a location they can check. Brands that sell on safety.
• Both: some customers want both, and nothing stops a brand from offering one of each if the range supports it.

The point is the customer, not the technology. Ask which of the two your customers are already asking you for.

I cannot give you a price for either, and I do not publish ours. The unit price and the minimum order depend on quantity and branding, and you receive them in a quote. For any smart product, plan for the same set of costs: samples, a first batch, packaging, approvals for your market, and your own time to test and support it.

A GPS product usually brings another line in your thinking, which is the data connection it needs to work. I do not describe connectivity for our collar here, because the factory confirms it in the one-page spec sheet that comes with the quote.

Write down the sentence you want your customer to say about the product. If it is that they can see their dog is healthy and active, the activity collar fits. If it is that they can find their dog when it is lost, you need location, and ours does not claim it.

Then check what the QR tag gives you. It does not find the pet. It helps whoever finds the pet to reach the owner, which I explain in What is a QR pet ID tag?.

Yes, and that is the point of samples first. We ship two collars with a mock of your logo. You look at them, you test them on real dogs, and you decide on a small first batch or you do not. There is no obligation to order.

If you decide that your customers want location above all else, you will have spent a form and a sample cost to learn it. That is a good price for a correct answer.

Listen to the words your customers use. People who say they worry about the dog running off want location. People who say they want to know whether the dog gets enough exercise, or how well it sleeps, want a daily record. These are two different shoppers, and a brand that serves both has two different products to sell.

I do not have a survey to quote, and I will not invent one. Your own messages, reviews and questions at the till are better evidence than any figure I could give.

They can. A brand with an activity collar and a location product tells the shopper which job each does, and the shopper picks. What does not work is one listing that implies both. If the collar you sell does not have location, the listing must not hint at it, because the customer who bought for location will return it.

Be careful with the word tracker. In search it often means location. If your product is an activity and sleep collar, say activity and sleep in the first line, and let the shopper choose on that.

Be honest about the job. If you want a daily-use product that brings owners back to an app and carries your name, the activity collar is a good fit. If the job is finding a lost dog on a map, do not buy ours. I would rather you keep your money and your trust in me than spend both on a product that does a different job.