E-commerce to account for nearly 50% of pet food sales by 2025, says report

The new report from DataWeave concludes that the share of e-commerce sales of pet food grew from 13.3% in 2016 to 36% in 2022 and is projected to increase to 45.7% in the next 2 years.

It points out that stock availability of pet care products across all brands and retailers jumped from 52% in 2021 to 76% in 2022. 

The report claims this follows a general trend of improving supply chain pressures worldwide post-pandemic. General Mills, Hill’s Pet, and Nestlé were the “most available” pet food brands in 2022.

In 2021, Nestlé faced a “severe” supply chain crisis, which is reflected in the company’s average availability of just 43% in the year. However, the pet food maker bounced back “incredibly” to an average of 82% of its pet care products in stock in 2022. 

Stock variation

The research tracked data from more than 5,000 stock-keeping units (SKUs) to analyze stock availability and discounts and over 100,000 SKUs to evaluate the share of searches for brands in the US. 

Diving a bit deeper, the research from DataWeave highlights differences in stock availability between cat and dog food among the leading brands.

It found that all brands except J.M. Smucker and Mars stocked more dog than cat food. This could suggest a “clear preference” for dog food online, which could be mirroring consumer demand patterns.

Discounts 

The study also looked into brand discount strategies for online products, which appear to be quite “divergent.”

“J.M. Smucker, Nestlé, and Mars have a relatively greater share of their products priced at the lower discount ranges. On the other hand, Merrick has products priced either at very low or very high discount levels, operating primarily at the extremes of price,” it said.  

It also noted that General Mills has a “healthy representation” of its offering across almost all discount ranges, excluding the 20% and above selection.

Search optimization

DataWeave found that Hill’s Pet, Mars, and Nestlé contributed to nearly 50% of the top 10 searches in results for products in the non-branded search keywords in 2022.

“In 2022, Hill’s Pet led with a Share of Search of 21%, though it fell marginally from a higher share of 26% the previous year. This correlates well with the brand’s high stock availability of 83%.”