China's 100 billion level pet food market, five major trends of the industry in the future
Over the past 20 years, with Mars and Royal Pet Food entering China, it has opened the pet food market in China.
In recent years, the scale of China's pet food market has continued to expand, from 16 billion in 2015 to 54 billion in 2020, becoming the world's second largest market after the United States.
However, at present, the pet ownership of Chinese households is only about 23%, far less than that of the United States (60%) and other countries.
Therefore, China's pet food market still has great development potential.
01 Infiltrate growth and upgrade consumption to guide sound development
Today, about half of the pet food consumers are new pets, and this trend is expected to continue. As more and more new consumers enter the pet food field, it will promote the market penetration rate and promote good development. In addition, the pet food consumption of each pet raising family includes both the increase of total consumption and the increase of expenditure among different categories.
In this regard, it is estimated that the total size of China's pet food market may reach 150 billion in 2025. Specifically, the pet ownership of households will rise to 30% - 35%, and the per capita expenditure will rise from the current $60-70 to $110-120.
02 Young women become the main force of emerging pet
After further investigation, it was found that more than 60% of new pet owners (the first pet owners in two years) were women, of which nearly 80% were post-80s and post-90s. It is worth noting that more than 60% of the above people are from high-end cities, and most of them are high-income people (4000-20000 yuan/month).
We believe that, on the one hand, in the future, there is still much room for growth in low-end cities; On the other hand, the emerging main force of pet feeding will promote the healthy growth of China's pet food market and achieve consumption upgrading.
03 Establishment of relationship between people and pets and promotion of consumption upgrading
More than 60% of respondents said that they usually regard pets as one of their family members, and the relationship between pet owners and pets has gradually been replaced by kinship. Thanks to the harmonious relationship between people and pets, 85% of the respondents are willing to buy pet food with better raw materials and higher prices.
According to the research, between 2015 and 2019, the compound annual growth rates of the middle and high-end categories of cat food market and dog food market reached 46% and 32% respectively, exceeding the average growth rate of the overall market, which was 36% and 32%.
04 Natural and non additive becomes a new value proposition
In 2020, more than half of pet food brands, such as Ziwi and Pure&Natural, will launch products without additives.
According to the survey, more and more consumers also pay attention to the "natural" pet food.
However, for brands, how to combine the "natural" attribute with the demand of products is the pain point of the current market, which still needs appropriate solutions.
05 Decentralized overall market pattern
The middle and low-end markets show a more decentralized pattern. If new players can provide products that meet consumers' pain points, there is still a good development prospect.
When purchasing pet food, Chinese consumers showed a more open attitude, and 64% of first time pet consumers changed their brands in the past two years. In addition, on average, each pet raising family will try out about 5-6 brands of products, while only 2-3 brands are available in mature markets.
Looking forward to the future, it is estimated that the market growth of China's pet food will reach 70 billion to 100 billion by 2025, which is half of the current stock of the United States market. Although the growth of China's pet food market is fast, it is in the early stage of development as a whole, and the market pattern has not yet formed, providing opportunities for brand expansion.