No fear of COVID-19, the epidemic stimulates reverse growth of pet food

COVID-19 has put much of the world on edge, but the current state of the U.S. pet industry is surprising.Compared with previous recessions, pet owners have not reduced their pet expenses but have doubled their investment to ensure that their pets can receive good care. Many pet owners have even adopted different types of pets.

During 2019, pet food accounted for 38.5% of pet industry sales, and in 2020, this share jumped to 41.6%, indicating that pet food remains strong in the market, and non-food pet supplies are also growing (from 19% increased to 20.8%).Meanwhile, services (veterinary and non-medical), which account for the remainder of pet industry sales, fell from 42.5% in 2019 to 37.3% in 2020.In the future, pet food will still show a growth trend, with a growth rate of 7% in 2020, which has exceeded the 5.3% forecast before the epidemic.Sales revenue will exceed $2 billion each year for the next five years, although growth may slowly begin to slow.

Pet e-commerce

Even before the epidemic, e-commerce in the pet market was already in full swing.No one will deny that e-commerce has made life harder for those brick-and-mortar sellers.But life aside, e-commerce has become the biggest profit point for pet products.As in 2018 and 2019, e-commerce was the fastest-growing channel for pet product sales, up 24% to $12.2 billion, of which pet food accounted for two-thirds, and online pet food sales accounted for 73% of industry growth.

fresh pet food

Fresh food is already well positioned in the market thanks to e-commerce and direct-to-consumer (DTC) business models, as well as innovations in ingredients and processing technologies.Over the past few years, direct marketers including The Farmer's Dog, NomNomNow, JustFoodForDogs, Ollie and Pet Plate have received millions of dollars in capital infusions and, more recently, have criticized traditional pet foods in social media and TV ads. .Given the growth of the industry, these companies are likely to be acquisition targets as they try their best to bring fresh pet food to market quickly.

Customized health and wellness

Everyone wants to stay healthy, and pet owners naturally want their pets to be healthy as well.Like fresh pet food, healthy pet diets have become a trend, with recent products including Blue Buffalo's new True Solutions line, which is formulated to target weight, joints, coat and digestion.Likewise, products that combine age, size, breed-specific and disease-specific advantages are also in demand.But fresh, on-demand pet food is too expensive for many pet owners, so marketers have an opportunity to sell more affordable 'designer supplements' at lower prices.

Science and Veterinary Diet

Under the influence of the epidemic, some scientific pet food formulas may become popular again.In the fourth quarter of 2019, Hill's pet food sales increased by 8%, and in the first quarter of 2020, they increased by 20% year-on-year. This increase is even more astonishing.Contributing to this strong performance was the U.S. relaunch of Hill's Science Diet with upgraded formulas, improved dog food shapes and redesigned packaging, and Hill's Prescription Diet Gastrointestinal Biome.

Veterinary medicated diets are also getting more promotion in trade magazines and are increasingly being offered by online retailers as they move into pet medicine - a recent email campaign from Chewy.com was titled ' 'The brand of veterinary diet you trust'.Although not specifically associated with veterinary diets, 16% of dog owners and 12% of cat owners use veterinarian-recommended formulas, and the proportion is even higher among those who have recently switched their pet's food, 19% of dogs respectively owners and 14% of cat owners.

New trends after natural formulas

In today's pet food market, many foods are labeled with natural formulas. 'Natural' itself has lost many product advantages.Therefore, statements such as 'fresh', 'with certain ingredients added' or 'extremely high in certain ingredients' are increasingly popular.In the coming years we will also see more products promoting animal welfare and socioeconomic system initiatives.Nearly half (48%) of pet owners believe that the benefits and activities that pet retailers participate in have a certain impact on their choice of pet products to buy, while the participation of brand retailers also affects their decisions on which products to buy.

While the impact of COVID-19 has been felt, far from hindering the major trends in the pet food market, it has infused new energy into them.