Innovative trends challenge the status quo for the pet industry in Belgium and the Netherlands

Belgium and the Netherlands make up a diverse and strong pet market and, while the level of demand has not seen significant fluctuation in the past few years, growth has been driven by the premium and alternative segments.

Unchanged pet populations

According to Benita Beekhof, Association Manager of NVG, the Dutch National Association of Pet Food Manufacturers, the regional pet market is divided between larger multinationals and small to medium-sized enterprises.

“There’s a healthy balance between those 2 types of players,” she says. “The total size of the market is relatively stable. In the Netherlands, the number of pets has remained largely unchanged over the past few years.”

This year, NVG released a survey showing that there were 22.6 million pets in Dutch households in 2023. That represented a slight increase of 500,000 pets compared to 2022.

According to the same study, pet owners in the Netherlands spend a monthly average of €56.90 ($61) on pet food and €15 ($16) on pet supplies.

In Belgium, there was a slight decrease in pet ownership during that period. A study conducted by the Belgian Association of Pet Food Manufacturers showed that 58% of Belgian households had at least 1 pet in 2024, compared to 59% in 2023 and 57% in 2022.

Recent acquisitions

Consolidation between players is likely in such a stable market. This year, 2 large acquisitions have taken place in Belgium so far.

US multinational General Mills has bought Belgian premium pet food company Edgard & Cooper, while Belgian pet retailer Tom&Co has acquired Belgian online pet pharmacy owner Barq Europe, which is also active in the Netherlands and France.

“The acquisition will help us to scale up even further,” says Maaike Pieters, Marketing Manager at Edgard & Cooper. “General Mills has R&D and product development capacities that are hard to build up in the first few years of a smaller company like ours. So General Mills can help us overcome those growing pains.”

Innovative smaller players

Edgard & Cooper was founded in 2016. Today, its annual revenue is approximately €100 million ($112M), and it employs 200 people. This growth shows how smaller players can do well in these markets, particularly if they focus on new segments such as premium dog food.

Another young company in the region is Dutch start-up PAWR, a pet food supplier that makes vegan dog food. It currently sells its products in Belgium and the Netherlands, and is starting to expand to Asia. The company won the Fressnapf Sustainability Innovation Award last year.

“It’s not easy being a small company in this industry, yet there are more opportunities today,” says Fia Luijerink, CEO and co-founder of PAWR. “Of course, we have to compete with the large pet food companies, who obviously have a strong presence in retail chains. But consumers are increasingly asking for smaller players like us and unique concepts, which is why a chain like Pets Place is also stocking our products.”

From traditional to forward-thinking

New consumer trends are driving the rise of players like PAWR and Edgard & Cooper.

“What you see is further humanization of the pet market,” says Beekhof. “Pets are increasingly viewed as part of the family, and owners want to translate their consumer choices to their pets. Trends in human food, such as organic, vegetarian, vegan or alternative proteins, are all being reproduced in the pet food market.”

Beekhof does note that these trends still represent a minority of the market.

According to the NVG’s 2024 study, a quarter of Dutch pet owners purchase alternative foods, which includes insect ingredients or vegetarian options, just once a year. But humanization does enable growth in markets where pet populations remain largely stable.

“There’s more potential [here] than in the French market,” says Pieters. “Pet numbers may be stagnant here, but there’s a trend towards more premium products. That being said, there are differences between Belgium and the Netherlands. Belgium is the more traditional pet market with fewer smaller players. The Netherlands has a higher number of new players. There we are facing more competition in the premium segment.”

Legislation driving sustainability

The push for sustainability is at the same time being driven by new legislation, which is looming large over not just the pet industry, but the entire European economy.

The European Commission’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), for example, came into force this year. It obliges large companies, and sometimes their suppliers, to state their social and environmental impact.

“Larger companies, in particular, are trying to come to terms with the CSRD and the added reporting burden,” says Beekhof. “They need to estimate their carbon footprint, but also deal with things like ecological packaging and developing more sustainable supply chains.”

Getting the message across

E-commerce in the Belgian and Dutch pet industry has become relatively ubiquitous during the last few years.

“From internal data we know that online shopping for pets has become a significant part of the market,” says Beekhof. “Particularly for bigger animals, such as large dogs – but also for horses – buying food online is now the norm.”

And while a smaller start-up like PAWR is selling its products in pet stores, it also relies heavily on online retailing to get its products out to consumers. “And we don’t just want to sell food to dog owners, we want to educate them too,” says Luijerink.

“The amount of text you can put on a piece of packaging is really not enough,” she adds. “We can give owners more information online. And besides e-commerce, we also recognize the importance of investing in educational content on platforms like Instagram and TikTok.”

Belgium and the Netherlands seem set to remain a dynamic pet market.

“The attention being paid to sustainability can only grow,” concludes Beekhof. “Companies are already fully focusing on that. Now consumers are following. So it will be the fundamental force in this market for the coming years.”