Improving the Design of Track and Trace Products: Evidence from a Field Study on Pet Tracking Devices

Technological support for an emergency situation where a pet, child or elder person is lost has been countered in the last years with the advent of consumer track and trace solutions. Based on a market survey and an adjacent experience study we investigated the state-of-the art of consumer track and trace solutions for pets. We found that until today most of the providers are struggling with providing a satisfying solution. We found that this was due to the demanding nature of device size, weight, and precision requirements which are not met by the providers yet. In addition we found that most of the existing products are not tailor to the specific scenario of locating a lost animal, child or person in an emergency situation. While most of the providers offered the tracking functionality via SMS or Web-based services only one provider offered a separate mobile application which was valued most by the participants.