Dogs over children: how millennials are feeding the US$225 billion pet care industry
- People in North America spent US$225 billion last year looking after their animals, with brands keen to cater to growing demand for healthier, gourmet pet foods
The pet care industry is booming as people around the world – especially millennials – blur the line between children and animals.
In North America last year, looking after animals proved to be a US$225 billion business, according to data from market research company, Edge by Ascential.
By 2023, the research company expects that figure to rise to US$281 billion.
Big brands are increasingly eager to cash in on the humanisation of pets.
Petco, the US-based company that sells animals and pet products and services, is opening kitchens in its stores, where people can buy meals prepared by chefs for their pets.
We are seeing the pet humanisation trend proliferate ... [and it is] being increasingly influenced by human trends, such as ethical spending. It means there is a bigger focus on health, wellness and sustainability
Walmart, the hypermarket and discount department store chain, is adding vet clinics to 100 of its stores and Nestlé Purina PetCare, another US-based business that makes and markets pet food, treats and other products, is getting into the lifestyle brand space with a new line of The Pioneer Woman-branded pet treats.
“Millennials are bringing pets into their household earlier than the previous generation ... they kind of delay marriage, but those pets fill that void in their life,” Ryan Gass, Purina Treats' senior brand manager, said.
Ree Drummond, who is known in the US as a blogger and the television host of The Pioneer Woman, can relate to the sentiment.
“From a practical standpoint, I cannot have Louis Vuitton dog carriers, because it would make absolutely no sense,” Drummond, who lives on a ranch in Oklahoma, said.
“But I'd be in trouble if I lived in the city, because the lines would become even more blurred between human child and canine child.