skip to main |
skip to sidebar
On October 2, Euromonitor International will host a market research webinar on "Global Pet Care in an Age of Economic Uncertainty" at 9 a.m. CST.
According to Euromonitor, economic recovery is still uncertain in 2013, with global GDP expected to grow by 3.5 percent but countries such as the US and Japan still struggling with high unemployment and recession. Although pet care remained resilient, challenges still loom. Pet humanization is driving pet owners to treat their pets, but the post-recession consumer is more price sensitive.
The webinar will look at the development of the pet care industry, identifying emerging geographies, categories, leading trends and successful new products. It will also analyze different channels to help new strategy development in retailing, packaging, petfood, and health and wellness. It will feature Paula Flores, global head of pet care research, and Dr. Deborah Cross, food industry research analyst.
The presentation will provide:
- Market prospects for pet spcialist retailers and Internet sales
- The gravitation from metal food cans to flexible pouches
- Opportunities for organic, fortifed/functional food
Register online to attend.
Private-equity firm Kinderhook Industries LLC sold the parent and operating companies of Absorption Corp., an American manufacturer of cellulose-based absorbent products for pets, to manufacturing company J. Rettenmaier & Söhne Group.
Absorption Corp., a company of Kinderhook since 2010, includes the pet care brands CareFRESH, Healthy Pet and CritterCare. JRS, a manufacturer of pet care products like litter and bedding, will use Absorption Corp. as a platform for consumer products growth in North America.
To promote pet responsibility at an early age, the Pet Care Trust, World Pet Association and other pet-related businesses raised more than US$8,000 for the Pets in the Classroom Grant Program during America’s Family Pet Expo, held November 3-4 in Puyallup, Washington, USA. The money raised will go to helping about 50 teachers enhance their classrooms and curriculum through the aid of classroom pets, impacting nearly 2,500 students.
The World Pet Association, host of America’s Family Pet Expo, donated booth space to the Pet Care Trust at the Expo. The Pet Care Trust hosted a betta fish toss, aquarium raffle and discounted pet store to raise funds for its Pets in the Classroom program, a grant program supporting responsible pet care in schools by providing direct grants to teachers to purchase or maintain pets in the classroom.
The betta fish toss booth raised US$1,329 for the program. The fish and supplies were donated by Hikari USA. The raffle of aquarium-related supplies raised US$988.
Additionally, the Pet Care Trust store, which sold donated pet supplies at a discounted price, raised nearly US$6,000. Donated goods and resources came from the following pet suppliers and organizations: CaribSea Inc., United Pet Group, Aqueon/Central Aquatics, Seachem Laboratories, Hikari Sales USA. Inc., Fluval/Rolf C. Hagen USA Inc., Terrascapes, Cobalt International, Segrest Farms, Sea Dwelling Creatures and Bio Bubble Pets LLC.
Research and Markets has added the From Gourmet to Grain-free: Innovation in a Resilient Global Pet Care Industry report from Euromonitor International to its offering.
According to the report, despite economic uncertainty, pet care continues to see strong retail growth, with an increasing importance on product innovation and segmentation. The report looks into trends and themes driving pet care innovation, as well as identifies leading and emerging companies and brands, provides a market analysis with information on pet ownership, and provides five-year forecasts for the pet care market. The report can be purchased online.
A new market research report from Euromonitor International, "Pet Care in China," found that the total pet population and share of prepared food for dogs and cats has risen over the review period, driving sales of pet food in terms of volume and value.
The report found growth in the pet care market also driven by the rising need for companionship, humanization of pets and the trend of consumers trading up to premium pet foods. The report offers a guide to the size and shape of the pet care market in China, with retail sales data from 2007-2011 and forecasts to 2016.
Despite economic uncertainty, the global pet care market continues to grow in 2012, with retail values approaching US$94 billion, according to Research and Markets' latest report, "Pet Care Forecast Revisit 2012: How Resilient Is the Global Market?"
The report, by Euromonitor International, projects sales will continue to grow between 2012 and 2017, thanks to the humanization of pets and strength in emerging markets, although retail value prospects were downgraded from previous Euromonitor forecasts.
This report, available for purchase online, examines the socioeconomic challenges facing global pet care and how they can be overcome. The report provides insight into the development of the market, and highlights buzz topics, as well as emerging geographies, categories and trends. It also identifies leading and emerging companies and brands, and offers strategic analysis of key factors influencing the market, including background information on pet population, pet ownership by household and prepared gap ratio.
The Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association and The Humane Society of the United States are reminding pet owners that preventative care can help pets live longer and healthier lives as they celebrate October as National Pet Wellness Month.
National Pet Wellness Month is a nationwide educational campaign sponsored by the American Veterinary Medical Association and Fort Dodge Animal Health.
“Yearly visits to your veterinarian are an essential part of keeping your pet healthy,” says Dr. Barry Kellogg, VMD, senior veterinary advisor for the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association. “Preventative care allows for early detection of problems and often saves money on overall veterinary costs by treating problems before they become serious.”
Dr. Kellogg offers pet owners the following tips to properly care for their pets throughout the year:
- A Balanced Diet: Commercial dog and cat foods make it easy to provide a nutritionally balanced and complete diet. Dog and cat foods contain all of the different nutrients your animal needs in the appropriate quantities, whereas it can be very difficult to create a balanced and complete diet from “people” foods.
- Weight Management: According to the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention, 53 percent of adult dogs and 55 percent of cats were classified as overweight or obese by their veterinarians. Prevention is much easier to accomplish than treatment, so consult your veterinarian about the right diet and exercise regimen for your pet.
- Annual Exams: Pets should visit their veterinarian at least once a year to check their overall health and well-being, which also allows pet owners to make any necessary changes in their pet’s daily routine and care. A review of the vaccination status and program most appropriate for your pet should also be completed at this time.
- Spay/Neuter: Not only do the spay/neuter procedures prevent individual medical problems, but spaying or neutering also helps curb pet overpopulation and reduces the number of unwanted pets who are euthanized every day. Spay and neuter surgeries can be safely performed as early as 8-12 weeks of age.
- Dental Care: Teeth and oral health should be evaluated annually.
- Senior Pets: As animals age, their dietary requirements and their ability to digest certain foods changes. When pets grow older, they lose some ability to concentrate urine so they need to produce more, and therefore need more water intake. You can help by feeding your pets better quality proteins and avoiding red meats like beef and beef by-products.
Research and Markets added a new pet industry report, "Latin American Pet
Care: The Rise of Emerging Markets," to its offerings.
The report from Euromonitor International says that the retail values in
Latin America's pet care market are growing faster than any other region. In
2016, Brazil is projected to pass Japan as the world's second largest pet care market, behind the US.
The report covers pet food and pet products with market sizes (historic and
forecasts), a country focus, future market opportunities and challenges, future
prospects and more. The "Latin American Pet Care: The Rise of Emerging Markets"
report can be purchased online.
Pet spending appears to be recession-proof, according to a new
survey by CouponCabin.com, which found that three-in-four US
pet owners (75 percent) said the state of the economy does not affect the amount
of money they spend on their pets.
The survey, conducted online April 19-23, also found that more than
one-quarter (26 percent) of US pet owners said they would be willing to put
their pets' healthcare needs before their own. More than one-third (34 percent)
of pet owners said they spend less on their friends than they do on their pets,
while thirty-two percent spend less on their family than they do on their pets
and 22 percent spend less on themselves than they do on their pets.
However, nearly eight out of 10 (78 percent) of US adults said they agree
that some people spend too much on their pets. When asked which purchases they
considered to be too expensive to spend on a pet, 77 percent of respondents said
getting a professional massage for a pet, 73 percent said paying for beauty and
grooming treatments beyond what is typical, and 71 percent said extravagant pet
hotels or boarding. Additionally, 48 percent of respondents said regularly
buying gourmet petfood was too expensive, 44 percent said medicating pets for
psychological needs, 40 percent said paying for expensive experimental health
treatments, and 33 percent said buying too many toys.
“Pets play a huge role in our society and are often treated like members of
the family,” said Jackie Warrick, president and chief savings officer at
CouponCabin.com. “Many people keep their pet spending within reason, but
sometimes it can get out of control. It’s important to keep an eye on how much
you’re spending on your animal companions and not get carried away with
extravagant or unnecessary pet purchases.”
A Global Pet Care industry profile provides qualitative and quantitative
summary information on market share and market size; profiles of leading pet
product companies, including Mars Inc., Nestle and Proctor & Gamble Company;
an analysis of pet care market trends and more.
According to the report, the pet
care market, which is comprised of retail sales of cat care, dog care, other
pet care and pet healthcare products, generated total revenues of US$80.3
billion in 2010, representing a compound annual growth rate of 4.3 percent from
2006-2010. Dog care sales were the most profitable in the global pet care market
in 2010, generating total revenues of US$29.2 billion or 36.3 percent of the
market's total value. The report forecasts a slowdown in the 2010-2015 period at
an anticipated compound annual growth rate of 3.8 percent and a market value of
US$97 billion in 2015.
Results from two new surveys conducted by the Pet Food Manufacturers' Association found that 89 percent of
adults, 78 percent of primary teachers and 70 percent of secondary teachers all
agree that it is important to teach children responsibility through proper pet
care, though pet care is not currently taught at the majority of primary and
secondary schools (60 percent and 85 percent, respectively) in the UK. To aid in
educating children about how to care for pets, UK animal welfare charities have
collaborated to launch a new website that provides pet care and pet nutrition resources all in one place.
Sean Wensley, senior veterinary surgeon for communication and education
at The People's Dispensary for Sick Animals, said: “PDSA is delighted to be part
of this collaboration of pet charities and organizations. Between us, we provide
a wealth of high-quality information on pet health and welfare. We hope that
making all of these resources available from a single website will raise
awareness of the materials available and make credible, evidence-based
information easy to locate and access.”
Since 2001, nearly 1,000 people have applied to Guinness World Records with claims to have the oldest pet for its species, says a recent FT Magazine article that looks into the growing obsession with pets' ages. With overall pet spending in the US of more than US$50 billion in 2011, according to the American Pet Products Association, pets are being treated to better veterinary care as owners become more attached to their pets and try to keep them alive as long as possible. “During the 20th century, human life expectancy increased 30 percent, [due to] clean food, water, hygiene. The same thing has happened, no doubt, to pets,” says Steven Austad, a professor and expert in ageing at the University of Texas.
“The feeling is that pet animals are living longer,” says Dan Brockman, a professor at the Royal Veterinary College. “We certainly see more old cats in particular, and old dogs. The three cornerstones are the genetic coding, better understanding of nutritional needs and the care [the animals] receive.”
Euromonitor International will host a free global pet care webinar on Wednesday, July 27.
The webinar, "Global Pet Care - What is Driving Growth in 2011 and Beyond?" will begin at 10 a.m. EST and offer a look into the development of the pet care industry as well as current market trends.
Euromonitor's Emily Woon, head of pet care research, and Lee Linthicum, head of packaged food research, will also cross-reference pet care data against the following systems to identify potential pet care market opportunities: health and wellness food and beverages system; dog and cat food packaging data on packaging system; and retailing system.
Registration for the free webinar can be done online
In a videocast, Emily Woon, head of pet care research at Euromonitor International, discusses the pet specialist channel in pet care, with an analysis of the three largest pet specialty retailers: PetSmart, Petco and Germany-based Fressnapf.
The pet specialty channel accounted for more than 50% of all pet care sales in 2010 and outpaced grocery stores in pet care sales, according to Woon. Woon said this is because pet owners are indulging more on purchasing premium products for their pets, which are only sold at specialty outlets, and also prefer the pet care advice they can receive at pet specialty stores that they would not otherwise get at a grocery store.
Woon also said that smaller pet shops are more popular in developing nations, such as Romania, Bulgaria and India, where these shops account for 60% of sales in the local market. She attributed this to the stores' convenient locations in local neighborhoods and small-scale retailers being able to adapt and customize products more easily, to meet pet owners' needs. Pet superstores, according to Woon, are more important in developed markets like the United States, where these pet specialty retailers account for 20% of overall pet care sales. Larger pet specialty retailers are more popular with US consumers because these stores carry a wide range of products, from branded petfoods to private labels, and offer services like dog training and grooming.
Research and Markets added a company profile of petfood manufacturer Nestle Purina to its report offerings. The report, "Nestle SA in Pet Care (World)," provides a strategic analysis of the company's business, examining its performance in the pet care industry.
The report examines company shares by region and sector, product developments, market and distribution strategies, challenges from the competition and future prospects. The report says that while Nestle remains focused on the mid-price and premium product segments, the company needs to streamline its product portfolio to focus on its best performing brands and expand its market share among premium petfood producers.
The Nestle company profile can be purchased online from Research and Markets.
The American Veterinary Medical Foundation (AVMF) partnered with Hill's Pet Nutrition and Merial for the Gulf Coast Pet Relief Program.
The effort is part of AVMF's Animal Disaster Relief and Response Fund. It will offer aid to 90 veterinary clinics and five shelters in the Gulf region by providing US$145,000 in funding and petfood products between AVMF, Hill's Pet Nutrition and Merial's Paws to Save Petsprogram. The donations will go toward reimbursing veterinary clinics that provided free services and goods to their clients whose livelihoods were impacted by the Gulf Coast oil spill.
"Pet-related issues in the Gulf continue to escalate, which is why we called upon our partners to come together to provide relief," said Michael Cathey, executive director of AVMF. "Our hope is to ease the pet care challenges families and shelters in the Gulf are facing by providing funding and resources for food and medical care."
Cardinal Laboratories, manufacturer of dog and cat care products, including dog treats, will officially convert its plant into a 100% solar-powered facility in Azusa, California, USA, on October 29.
Undertaken with the Solar Partnership Program of the City of Azusa, the conversion has taken Cardinal Laboratories off the power grid; the company is harvesting enough power from its solar collection system to send electricity back to its local utility.
When an animal companion gets into something it shouldn’t; such as plants, cleaners and medicine, help may be a phone call away with Pet Poison Helpline. The service is professionally staffed around the clock and available to pet owners and veterinary staff who require assistance treating a potentially poisoned pet for a flat fee.
The service, staffed with specialists, charges $35, which includes follow-up consultations for poison cases of all pet species.
The phone number for Pet Poison Helpline is +1.800.213.6680 and additional information, including pet care tips, can be accessed on the Web, Facebook and Twitter.
Sergeant's Pet Care Products announced its acquisition of a Kansas City, Kansas, USA, production facility from MGP Ingredients, effective August 21, 2009. The sale of the facility includes all equipment used for the production and packaging of pet-related products, which includes extruded plant-based resins and finished pet treats.
"Our purchase of the Kansas City facility from MGPI allows us to expand production of our formulated pet treats, some of which include Sergeant's SteakHouse, Sniffers and DentaFresh,” said Bob Scharf, CEO of Sergeant's. "This acquisition marks the continuation of the tremendous growth we've experienced over the last several years."
With more than 65% of American families having a pet, pet care—including food, accessories, veterinary services and grooming—is big business, according to a news report.
American Pet Products Association data shows spending on pet care was $43.2 billion in 2008 and is expected to cross $45 billion this year.
According to IBISWorld, an industry and market research firm, pet stores are expected to touch $11.45 billion in revenue this year. A growth of 5% over the next five years is expected in pet care, training and pet sitting.
Veterinary services accounted for $22.3 billion in 2008 and is expected to grow 4.3% over the next five years.
