work / petfolk

Petfolk

From Shopify pages to a real booking platform for pet care

AIProducts Fractional Advisor, Product & Strategy · 2024

Worked with Solo, full-stack build with AI · worked directly with Petfolk founders & franchise operations

Visit petfolk.in ↗
Pan India Stores, Pods & Vans
★★★★★ Google & Trustpilot rated
Full-stack Solo ownership
TL;DR
  • Petfolk had burned infra on native Android/iOS apps it couldn’t maintain without a tech team, then retreated to Shopify pages; visitors had nothing to do but get routed to WhatsApp
  • Key decision: a custom booking platform purpose-built for Petfolk’s multi-format operation (Stores, Pods, Vans), service types and franchise management
  • Customers now browse every branch across India, book services, manage pet profiles with pet-specific catalogs, and even live-stream their pet’s grooming session; built entirely with Claude on Emergent

The real problem

Petfolk is India’s new player in pet grooming services. Before this engagement the team had spent heavily building native apps on Android and iOS, and failed to maintain them without a tech team. The fallback was running a pet booking service on Shopify pages, chosen with a future commerce play in mind, but the problems were plain: visitors to the website had nothing to do, there was no booking schedule, and users were routed to a WhatsApp account.

Goal

Give Petfolk a platform that actually books: multi-location, multi-format (Stores, Pods, Vans), multi-service, with franchise operations built in.

Outcome

Customers browse all Petfolk branches across India, view catalogs, book services and get an operations response. Franchisee owners, staff and groomers run on the same platform, with ecommerce in the pipeline.

What was considered

Stay on Shopify
Why considered Already live; commerce-ready for the planned product sales
Why it didn't ship Shopify pages can’t model branches, service schedules or franchise ops; every booking died in a WhatsApp thread
Revive the native apps
Why considered The investment already existed
Why it didn't ship Maintaining two app codebases without a tech team is exactly what failed the first time
shipped Custom web platform (chosen)
Why considered Purpose-built for multi-format locations, service types and franchise management; one codebase, AI-accelerated build
Trade-off accepted Built from scratch, but with Claude on Emergent the build cost collapsed

What was built

A pet-grooming booking platform custom-built for Petfolk. Customers can view all branches across India (Stores, Pods and Vans), browse the catalog, book a service and get a response from operations. Logged-in customers add their pet’s info and see a catalog tailored to their pets, and can opt for live streaming of grooming sessions. Franchisee owners, staff and groomers are onboarded onto the same platform for seamless operations, with ecommerce next in the pipeline. Built entirely with Claude on Emergent.

Platform features

Branch DiscoveryEvery Petfolk location across India: Stores, Pods, and mobile Vans
Booking & OpsService booking with operations response, schedules per location
Pet ProfilesCustomer login with pet info; catalog personalised per pet
Live StreamingWatch your pet’s grooming session live
Franchise ManagementOwners, staff and groomers onboarded on one operations platform
Commerce PipelineEcommerce for pet supplies built into the roadmap