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PET NEEDS TBy Nicholas Rider. here are almost 29 million pets in Australia today, according to research from Anima Medicines Australia, which is more than the estimated human population of 25 million. The 2019 research, ‘Pets in Australia: A national survey of pets and people’, found that 61 per cent of surveyed Australian households have a pet today, while 90 per cent have had a pet at some time. When it comes to the most popular type of pets, dogs dominate with around 40 per cent of surveyed Australian households including at least one. This is followed by cats (27 per cent), fish (11 per cent), birds (nine per cent), small mammals (three per cent) and reptiles (two per cent). Another two per cent of households report that they have pets such as horses, goats, cows, alpacas, and hermit crabs. Animal Medicines Australia says self- reported expenditure on pet related products and services in Australia is now estimated at more than $13 billion a year, up from $12 billion in 2016. Food remains the standout, at 30 per cent of all ongoing expenditure. According to recent Nielsen Homescan data, pet food value grew at 11.9 per cent and 15.6 per cent in the 52 weeks and the latest 13 weeks respectively to 16 May 2020 compared with the same periods last year. “All pet food subcategories contributed to this growth,” Nielsen Director Client Services Sarah McKee said, “with cat treats, dog treats and wet cat food contributing more growth to total pet food than their share in the latest 52 weeks. “This trend is consistent in the latest 13 weeks, with dry cat food also a strong contributor of growth.” Humanisation among key trends Addressing food and treat trends, Bell & Bone Director Arianne Sackville tells Retail World these are evolving in the grocery and pet speciality channels with more premium and fresh options. “The pet food category is very much influenced by human healthy eating trends,” she said. “Pets are becoming more significant family members, resulting in owners feeding them as if they’re children. Picture raw meat and vegetable birthday cakes, ‘puppy-chino’ options at cafes, carob flavoured Easter eggs. These are all now standard options for dogs around Australia today.” Nestlé Purina Head of Marketing Anthony Hillier agrees that humanisation has been a key development in the category for a while. “However,” he said, “we’ve seen this come into more focus in the recent months as people have been spending more time at home with their pets and as a result are looking for products to increase the bond with their pets.” Mr Hillier says urbanisation and natural are two other significant trends. “Urbanisation is affecting the category in a few ways,” he said. “Firstly, when people are buying or adopting a pet, we’re seeing a trend towards smaller dogs and cats, perhaps as more people are living in smaller housing or units. Due to the choice of housing location, this also affects shopping behaviour where people are looking for convenient and easy meal options for their pets. “Natural continues to be a strong theme in pet care and the category has seen many new brands and products enter the market. However, we’re starting to see this become a category expectation of all brands in the market.” Safcol Marketing Manager Dean de Villiers added: “Pet owners are looking for higher quality foods for their pets and are concerned about what’s in the food and how it’s made. We also see an offtake in healthy treats within the pet section.” Change needed Ms Sackville notes that while the grocery channel is still the largest player in pet food, it has lost market share over the past few years to both online and pet specialty retailers. “As trends towards humanising our pets has driven much category growth, \[pet\] owners have typically found themselves looking for more tailored support from staff, healthier options, and a larger range/variety,” she said. “\[These are\] items supermarkets haven’t been able to offer their shoppers as yet.” Masterpet National Grocery Account “Pet owners are looking for higher quality foods for their pets and are concerned about what’s in the food and how it’s made.” 58 RETAIL WORLD AUG, 2020