Millennials spending more on pet food than any other generation

Business Insider reports:

    •    Pet owners spent a total of $69.5 billion in 2017, an increase from $41.2 billion in 2007.

    •    The price of pet food has increased from an average $1.71 per pound in 2011 to $2.55 per pound in 2017.

    •    Millennials are the largest demographic of pet owners in US.

    •    2017 introduced 4,500 new pet food products, many of which were labeled as “premium” products.

The price of pet food has increased from an average $1.71 per pound in 2011 to $2.55 per pound in 2017, and it plays to an increasing trend towards owners pampering their pets. Pet owners’ total spending per year in 2007 was $41.2 billion. Ten years later, it hit $69.5 billion.

So what’s causing this shift? Evidence points to millennials.

According to a report by the Pew Research Center, millennials are 50% less likely than the Silent Generation to be married. They’re also delaying parenthood. Instead, they’re becoming pet owners. In 2017, millennials became the largest demographic of US pet owners at 35%. These pet owners not only act differently than previously generations, they also spend differently.

Premiumization is the idea that you can enhance the perception of value of a product by marketing or by even something very simple like calling it a premium diet. In this case, pet food. Premium diets don’t necessarily have anything that a nonpremium diet don’t have. It’s more the perception of what they have. So it’s playing to what pet owners feel in their gut should be in a high-quality pet food.

Watch the videao via this direct link.