30 Years of pet food, Buzz words, hypes and trends

In this 30th anniversary year, we are taking a look at a number of important topics for the pet food industry. The main driver of the pet industry has gone through major developments in the past three decades.

Health and humanisation

Thirty years ago, the industry was less complicated than it is today. In the early nineties you simply had wet and dry. With the expectation that the market would double in ten years’ time – which indeed happened. Probiotics added to pet food and snacks was a new phenomenon, with the health claims that went with it.

Around 2000, the humanisation trend became a serious source of inspiration. From that moment onwards, a range of innovations entered the pet market. Words as: holistic, natural, organic and functional were popping up everywhere, hand in hand with claims to match.

Grain-free nutrition

According to GfK’s findings, more than half (53%) of all new pet food items are now grain-free. However, the category still accounts for just 39% of overall sales. This means that healthy revenue growth should continue, with abundant SKUs and variations on this theme.

Limited-ingredient diets

Pet owners have also embraced limited-ingredient diets (LID). Initially, these were created to ease food allergies in pets, but the transparency of knowing exactly what their four-pawed companions are consuming is also a big plus for doting owners – a benefit that is helping to drive further LID success. In the past year, sales of LID items have risen by 6%.

Seasonal treats and foods

The seasonal category has been a hub for innovation and is attracting all-important millennial pet owners with its focus on customisation and shared pet/human moments.

Small portions

Products for small and toy breeds represent another strong sector. As urbanisation continues, young people are resisting the move to the suburbs, making smaller dogs the smarter choice for more and more owners.

Raw diets

There were probably no truly declining categories or brands in 2017. Sales in frozen are still recovering from the raw frozen recalls in 2015, and some stores may have already increased the space they can devote to frozen products. But this can be said to be a stable situation rather than any kind of real downturn. At the same time, freeze-dried and dehydrated raw alternative options continue to grow rapidly in the marketplace – especially popular as mixers and toppers or in the kibble-plus format.

Corine van Winden