Lockdown pushes pet owners online and to small businesses

As countries locked down one after the other, people were forced to stay at home. During these challenging times, many owners found comfort in their pets. Although everyday life was altered dramatically, people continued to spend money on their furry friends. Yummypets – the international community of 1.2 million pet parents – asked pet owners about their pet food purchasing habits before and after the lockdown. With at least 64.6% of the pet parents indicating that they were forced to buy at least some of their pet food from a different source than before the lockdown, it seems that the crisis has caused a lot of changes.

The changes in detail

The amount of pet parents buying pet food via the online channel is up by 15% since the lockdown. Perhaps surprisingly, the lockdown also caused an 11% increase in the proportion of respondents buying their pet food at local pet stores. Where did all these people come from? Well, the number of people visiting the large pet chains dropped significantly, by 15%, due to the lockdown.

Decrease in people purchasing pet food

The survey also shows a 13% decrease in people purchasing pet food from other pet-related businesses like day-care, boarding or training facilities. This is probably due to the fact that these businesses had to close during the lockdown. There seems to be no change in the number of people going to supermarkets or hypermarkets for their pet food. There has been little change in pet food purchases from veterinary practices either, but that channel did not have a significant share to begin with.

The online trend

Another question in the survey also illustrated the online trend. The pet owners were asked how their pet food shopping has changed since the lockdown. 18% said they now purchase most or all pet food online. 14% reported being forced to buy elsewhere altogether and 7% said they had only changed brand. 61% said they continued purchasing via the same channel as before.

Permanent change

The pet parents that said they had changed their pet food shopping behaviour were asked whether they would return to their old routine. Half of them indicated that they will return to the old way, and the other half plan to continue shopping in the new way or to combine the two approaches.

Furthermore, the survey shows that during the lockdown 36% of respondents did not buy the same brand they bought before the lockdown. 14% said they chose a cheaper brand than before, 16% said they bought whatever brand was available and 6% said they chose the cheapest offer.