A positive prognosis for sales of pet durables

Durable pet supplies seem to benefit from the continuous premiumization trend. Here is what we can expect from this development.

Advantage

Premiumization remains a key competitive strategy for many marketers. But the question arises how much longer marketers can continue to drive up dollar sales by converting pet owners to costlier products. In this context, durable pet supplies —ranging from kennels and pet beds to pet toys and fashion accessories— benefit from two significant advantages.

First, natural product positioning remains much less developed in non-food pet supplies, including pet durables, than in pet food and treats. Secondly, Millennials, which are now displacing Baby Boomers as the consumer cohort most worth catering to, buy most types of pet durables at significant higher rates than do the Baby Boomer cohorts that preceded them. Among dog- or cat-owning households in the US, according to Simmons Market Research Spring 2016 survey data, 54% (or 35 million) purchased pet toys in the last 12 months, making toys the most popular durables category by this measure. Second in frequency of purchase are collars, harnesses, and leashes (39%), followed by pet beds and by bowls or feeders.

Dog owners versus cat owners

Data on households that own dogs but not cats, or vice versa, provides a general comparison of pet durables purchasing rates for dog owners versus cat owners in the US. The bottom line: dog owners purchase most durable pet product types at slightly to dramatically higher rates than cat owners.

On an annual basis, purchasing patterns are closest for bowls, feeders, or waterers (at 24% of dog owners vs. 21% of cat owners) and carriers, crates, or kennels (at 9% vs. 7%, respectively). The spread in product purchasing rates widens for pet toys (at 54% of dog owners vs. 45% of cat owners) or pet beds (at 32% vs. 11%), and widens further still in the case of collars, harnesses, and leashes (46% of dog owners vs. 10% of cat owners) and pet apparel or fashion accessories (at 20% vs. only 3% of cat owners).

Generation cohort

That Millenials (the age 18-34 bracket) post significantly higher purchasing rates for durable pet supply types is most notable in the case of fashion accessories, which are purchased by nearly three times the percentage of Millennials (at 20%) as of older senior 70+ pet owners (at 7%).

Cat litter

Cat litter boxes are a special case in pet durables, given that cat litter is the leading non-food category of pet supplies. Over four-fifths of US cat owners (86%, or 26 million cat-owning households) purchase cat litter products. Packaged Facts survey data from April 2016 shows that 56% of cat owners who buy cat litter have one litter box in the home, 31% have two, and the remainder have three or more. In keeping with the product premiumization trend, automatic cleaning litter boxes are becoming increasingly popular among busier cat owners.

Prognosis

Dog and cat owners are increasingly seeing themselves as better off relative to previous years. And with this gradually improving economic outlook, ‘pet parents’ will continue to look for premium natural products in the non-food pet supplies space, as well as premium products that contribute in new ways to pet health and well-being. Pet owners are willing to spend more if they believe that products offer improved benefits, and pet durables are ripe for continued development in this vein.