Does private label pet food meet consumer expectations?

Despite inflationary pressures easing in most markets recently, pet owners still feel the impact of steep price hikes in the past 2 years.

Has this prompted a shift in purchasing behaviors? And how have private labels fared? A survey of consumers in the UK, US, Canada and France provides some answers.

Retailer brand awareness

When asked about the impact of inflation on their finances, half of the respondents say it has had an effect.

US consumers, in particular, have felt the pinch (62%), whereas France has the highest proportion of consumers who’ve felt no effect at all (12% versus the global 5%). Nevertheless, 65% of all pet owners in the survey say they’ve not swapped pet food brands over the past year.

Private label products offer a more affordable alternative to established brands, but are consumers aware of that? More than half of the survey respondents say they know what private label is (54%), with French consumers the most familiar with it (86%).

Yet some 2 out of 10 Canadian pet parents don’t know anything about retailer brands. Nor do a quarter of the UK pet owners surveyed.

Globally, 62% of the respondents say they bought private label products for food either often or very often.

This was followed by household products (59%) and personal care (41%). Interestingly, the proportion of those buying retailer brands drops to 22% when it comes to pet products.

Frequent purchases

More than 4 out of 10 (44%) survey respondents say they are buying private label pet products more often now than last year, with US consumers the most likely to do so (52%).

The most frequently purchased products are treats (41%) and toys (34%).

When it comes to food, dry beats wet (29% vs 24%). Out of the 4 markets, UK pet owners are the most likely to buy a retailer brand of dry food (39%), with a similar proportion purchasing wet (37%).

Private label cat litter is the most popular among French consumers (35% vs the global 26%), while UK pet owners are significantly more likely to buy own brand medication (14% vs 8%).

Criteria for choosing a product

Health benefits (52%), ingredients (51%) and price (48%) are the top 3 criteria for consumers when making a purchasing decision regarding a private label product for their pet.

However, there are some interesting differences when we look at owners in different countries.

French pet parents are more likely to choose private labels based on nutritional goodness (47%) and segmentation by age or breed (45%), whereas consumers in the US pay more attention to the brand.

Canadian owners are more likely to favor a reduced list of ingredients (28%), as well as recommendations from peers (26%), than any of the other markets.

The appeal of affordability

Affordability is, not surprisingly, one of the biggest advantages of buying private label pet food – 74% of the survey respondents agree with this.

The fact that retailer brands are cheaper than established brands is the main driver for purchasing private label products (44%). A quarter of the respondents say that regular sales promotions for these products motivate them to buy.

A combined 72% of the respondents rate private label pet foods as either “good” (43%) or “very good” (29%) in terms of affordability, reflecting a clear consensus that these products offer value for money.

While price is a significant purchase driver, it’s not the only one: 23% of pet parents surveyed highlight their trust in a chosen retailer, suggesting that retail brand equity plays a role in their decision-making process.

Besides these cost savings, some pet owners (11%) appreciate the ease of finding the products they need on store shelves, as well as the quality of the ingredients (9%).

Just 4% of respondents indicate the trustworthiness of claims as a benefit.

Big vs small store shoppers

From another perspective, pet owners who shop at hypermarkets and supermarkets are more likely to mention price as key for choosing pet food (58%) compared to those who shop in different channels.

Other criteria for bigger store shoppers are that food is palatable for their pet (45%) and food packaging (22%).

By contrast, the consumers who favor pet shops are more likely to choose food products based on criteria such as non-meat protein sources (71%), country of origin or organically produced (67%) and fresh meat or other natural claims (65%).

Quality and transparency

The survey results show a growing acceptance of private label products as comparable alternatives, with 44% of pet parents agreeing that retailer brand pet foods are of the same quality as established brands. More than half of the UK respondents (55%) support this claim.

When it comes to disadvantages, the most common concern mentioned is lower quality.

Almost half of the respondents (48%) state this as their primary concern, although just under a quarter (23%) actually believe that retailer brands are of lesser quality than branded pet food.

Another challenge is the limited variety of options available, noted by 22% of the respondents.

Some pet owners (16%) also highlight a lack of trust as a disadvantage. This may reflect some lingering concern about the transparency and reliability of the claims made by private labels.

Good but can do better

The overall sentiment toward private label pet foods is relatively neutral to quite positive.

The largest proportion of survey respondents rate these brands as “average” (39%) or “good” (28%). A smaller proportion (10%) consider them to be even “very good”.

Yet nearly a quarter (23%) of respondents rate their opinion of private label pet food as “poor” (5%) or “very poor” (23%).

This is particularly significant among French consumers, who rate these kind of products as the lowest of all 4 markets, with 3 out of 10 pet owners in the country rating private label pet food as poor.

Retailer pet food brands offer substantial appeal in terms of price, but there are still some obstacles when it comes to quality perception, variety and trust.

So retailers looking to grow their share of the pet food market will need to address these concerns by increasing the transparency in their marketing claims and improving ingredient quality.

By building on their affordability appeal, as well as on today’s growing trust in retailers, private label pet foods are certainly well placed to increase their market share if they can manage to bridge the gap between value and perceived quality.