Pet Industry 2013 Strategic Outlook

See U.S. market sizes of pet food, veterinary services, supplies and pet services, sliced by demographic group. Includes pet owner spending demographics, core trends and analysis on fragmentation, the retail landscape, changes in the food and vet industries, and opportunities moving forward.

This report provides key spending trends by age, income and household composition that are driving the pet industry. It contains actionable intelligence to help your business, marketing or product development initiatives. Learn more or buy securely here



For instance, the above table shows both overall ($2.4 billion) and segment market sizes for pet owners who have a child younger than six years old. These new families used to be part of a core demographic group with children in the 'pet acquisition years' that can engender loyalty to a brand. These customers continue to increase spending, particularly on food and at the vet.

 

Pet Business Opportunities

Emerging Market Segments in the Pet Industry

Kudos to BusinessWeek for staying ahead of the curve by reporting on one of the emerging market segments in the pet industry (There's Never Been A Better Time to Be a Dead Pet by Eric Spitznagel, Sep 07 2012). Sometimes it's hard for businesses to get behind an idea that's hard to quantify; the article points out that it is "a growing if untracked segment of the pet care industry."

In fact, the pet death segment is on our list of best pet business opportunities for the second year straight. The aging of America, and of our pets, and increased spending, are only three of the reasons.

Cultural changes and pet owner expenditures that span multiple demographic groups have proactively created opportunities for new business ideas, and perhaps more importantly for existing businesses to tap into a multi-billion spending spree.

Check out our market research for more opportunities moving forward. Buy any report now and we'll include a confidential half-hour phone consultation.
 

FTC to Examine Pet Medications Industry

Ten years ago, pet medications were dispensed mostly by veterinarians. Today, brick-and-mortar, online retail and nationwide pharmacy chains like Kroger also sell pet meds, especially OTC medications.

As we've pointed out in earlier posts and in our pet market research over the years, the evolution of America's pet culture - and corresponding increase in spending - has fundamentally changed the distribution practices and competitive landscape of the pet medications industry. The internet economy and recent flood of generic flea & tick meds onto the market are among many changes responsible for this.

Now, the Federal Trade Commission plans to take a look in a FTC Workshop on Pet Medications Issues later this year.

Issues of competition and consumer protection will be discussed, including prescription portability, consumer choice, veterinarians rights, product supply and quality. The FTC also has questions about business rationales, innovation, and future barriers to entry into the pet medications market.

That's a lot of questions for a lot of stakeholders. This could be a very important meeting that defines the next ten years of the pet medications industry. Upon completion, the Commission may prepare a report on the issues.

Stakeholders include businesses and consumers, and are invited to comment on any of these issues to the FTC before September 14, 2012.
 

Will this fish tank spill over?

A four-story, 5,500 gallon aquarium as planned by soccer star Thierry Henry, who is the latest in a line of millionaires installing extravagant fish tanks in their homes.

Holding 300 fish, this tank will cost almost $400,000 to build, according to the Daily Mail

This aquarium will be the latest and greatest among celebrities including Madonna, the Beckhams, and Cher.

Considering there are 151 million freshwater fish owned as pets in the U.S. alone, maybe this trend will spill over into the consumer mass market.
 

Emerging pet trends

A new study illustrates the health benefits of owning a pet, finding pet owners have greater self esteem, are more physically fit, and more extraverted than non pet owners. Unlike most studies that simply add a pet to the equation to find a benefit but no causality, this one compares pet owners to non pet owners across these metrics.

Apparently pet owners also own a lot of gadgets. A demographic profile of iPad owners reveals that their most common traits are being male, owning pets, and playing video games.

Speaking of gadgets, BusinessWeek notes that chipmaker Qualcomm is entering the consumer market with Tagg, a GPS locator for your dog. A $200 clip on product with a year of free service (on the Verizon network), the device alerts you if your dog leaves a predefined area. Since the broader effort envisions everyday gadgets and appliances wired up using their chips, this product could help evolve the Qualcomm brand.