Three new trends of pet food consumption in 2021

Do you have hairy children? How many friends around can't resist the temptation of "cat movies"? Are dog food assessments frequently available on the short video platform?

In the contemporary society, pets are no longer a "tool" for home care, but a daily companion and spiritual comfort. More and more consumers choose to be parents of pets, which is corresponding to the unprecedented prosperity of the "other economy" market

Pet food consumption accounts for nearly 60% when the pet track enters the sprint period

According to the analysis of the macro environment based on the PEST model, the domestic pet economy has entered the "sprint period" of development.

·In terms of economic conditions, China's per capita GDP exceeded 3000 US dollars after 2008, meeting the material basis for the rapid development of the pet market;

·In terms of policy, China's pet feeding policy has been further relaxed, and the concept of pet feeding has been upgraded to refined and humanized feeding;

·From the social point of view, the group of empty nesters and young people living alone has become increasingly large, pets have become an important part of their daily life, and the "family status" has risen unprecedentedly;

·On the technical level, the advancement of pet food technology and the intelligent upgrade of pet feeding equipment are all helping the pet race track ride the waves.

Throughout the development history of domestic pet industry, international brands entered the market in 1990, and domestic brands gradually rose in the early 21st century. Since 2011, pet consumption has entered the sprint stage. The CBNData Report shows that the scale of China's pet market in 2020 has nearly tripled compared with 2016, but compared with the pet raising countries such as the United States and Australia, China's pet consumption still has a large space for growth.

From the perspective of online consumption trend, the scale of pet consumption has accelerated in the past three years. In the "all-around flowering" pet market, pet food, beauty and cleaning products, daily necessities and other sub categories have led the growth, of which pet food is the top, accounting for nearly 60% of consumption.

The pet food industry has been upgraded in an all-round way. "Humanized" pet is everywhere

In the Cute Pets section of Station B, 3.06 million interesting videos related to pets have accumulated more than 25.3 billion broadcasts, including a large number of pet food evaluation videos. The topic # cat food on Tiktok has also been played 670 million times.

As the top priority of pet care, pet food attracts the attention of the excrement removing officials. The CBNData Report shows that in 2021, the consumption of staple food will account for a large proportion of online dog and cat food consumption, while the growth rate of snacks will remain at a high level. The high growth of this kind of purpose also reflects the owner's "anthropomorphic" love for pets from the side.

Who are these excrement shoveling officers for Krypton?

According to the portraits of people who consume dog food, they are mainly young post-90s women, and the consumption in second tier cities is more prominent. Compared with the busy front-line workers, they have more leisure time, more comfortable living space, and are more suitable for feeding pets such as dogs.

Then look at the consumption of cat food. The online cat food consumer portrait shows that Generation Z has become the main cat smoking player, and female consumption accounts for more than 70%. The surge in cat population has boosted the online consumption of cat food to 54%, surpassing the consumption of dog food.

For both dogs and cats, the growth rate of the number of consumers in the high price segment is more prominent, which confirms the rise of the status of pet families. Among them, Meow Star people took the lead in achieving consumption upgrading. The per capita consumption amount of online cat food is nearly 1.5 times that of dog food.

What kind of pet food is popular?

According to the CBNData Report, beef, chicken and duck are popular online staple food tastes for dogs, and the taste of meat and vegetables has become popular because of the characteristics of dog omnivore; As a close relative of tigers, cats always retain the nature of carnivorous animals. The consumption of fish, chicken and other kinds of meat staple foods is the top, and the combination of various kinds of meat is also popular.

In addition, cat owners and dog owners have different choices in pet food packaging. Cat owners buy more frequently and tend to replace small packaged food with fast cycle to meet the taste requirements of Meow Singers; Dog owners prefer to buy large packs of food rations.

Three new trends of pet staple food consumption: balanced nutrition, selected formula and customized

Quality upgrading is the key word of pet food consumption. As more and more excrement removing officials regard pets as "masters", family members and other close roles, they are increasingly "soft" for pet consumption - the number of consumers of staple food products with an online unit price of more than 200 yuan is growing rapidly, reaching nearly 40%.

At the same time, the owners of dogs and cats also considered more comprehensive factors when selecting staple food: nutritious food materials, palatability, user reputation, pet's own situation and brand awareness became the five major factors to consider. We will focus on three dimensions of balanced nutrition, selected formula and personalized customization.

01 Concerned about nutrition, the officer who shoveled excrement turned into the "constituent party"

The epidemic situation has boosted the great health track, and the pet market is no exception. Among the top three health problems concerned by the excrement removing officers, the owners of dogs and cats jointly pay attention to gastrointestinal health and resistance, among which the owners of cats pay attention to the health of urinary system, and the owners of dogs pay attention to the health of hair color.

The trend of "ingredients" in the beauty and food industries has also spread to the field of pet food. Since protein is a high demand in the diet of dogs and cats, it has become the core ingredient concerned by the officials who shovel excrement. CBNData survey data shows that the consumption growth of online high protein pet staple food is outstanding, far exceeding the overall staple food.

The scientific feeding trend is also reflected in the functionalization of pet food. More and more staple foods begin to have health care elements, such as hair care, digestion, calcium and bone. Among them, the consumption of taurine eye care products in staple food for dogs grew rapidly, while the consumption of nutritional supplements for young cats grew significantly.

02 Focusing on the formula, fresh meat grains should be "no meat, no joy"

In addition to nutrients, the officials also pay attention to the formula of food ingredients. According to the survey data of First Finance, more than 60% of pet owners said they would pay attention to the ingredients list, especially whether hormones and flavorings were added to the ingredients, as well as the meat content and the origin of the ingredients.

"No meat, no pleasure" has become the mainstream trend. Since fresh meat food is easier to digest, more than 90% of pet owners prefer to buy staple food containing fresh meat. Compared with the previous two years, the online consumption of cereal free and high meat staple grains with low allergenicity and high meat content has surged. In terms of the origin of food materials, China, Canada and the United States have become popular producers of staple food materials.

03 Customized, each owner has his own love

Are young cats, adult cats and lactating cats fed in the same way? Should Labrador, Bome and Husky eat the same staple food?

With the popularization of scientific pet care knowledge, personalized customization has become a new consumption preference of pet owners.

Cats' feces shoveling officers are more inclined to customize staple food according to different life stages of pets. According to the CBNData Report, more than 40% of cat staple food customized by life stages is consumed online.

Dog owners prefer to buy customized food according to the breed and body type. In terms of size, the consumption of staple food for small dogs and medium and large dogs accounts for an outstanding proportion. In terms of variety, the customized food for Teddy and Golden Hair is popular.

In order to provide high quality and personalized taste enjoyment for pets, consumers began to choose mixed grains, which have rich taste, and their consumption growth rate is far higher than the overall staple grains.

Snack is the magic weapon of cute happiness? Diversification and interest become a trend

To enhance the happiness of Mao's life, the officials who shovel excrement have their own secret weapons. According to the survey data, feeding snacks and playing games with dogs and cats have become common magic weapons for owners.

Cat owners are particularly keen on pleasing cats with snacks. In online dog and cat snack consumption, cat owners outperformed dog owners by more than 20% in terms of purchase frequency and consumption unit price. When choosing snacks, the officials who shovel excrement implement the "componentism" to the end. They pay attention to whether the nutritional components of snacks are healthy. In addition, dog owners also care about the taste of snack forms.

In terms of snacks, dogs like molars and meat sticks, while cats prefer canned and freeze-dried meat.

Product innovation, formula research and development, marketing upgrading, domestic pet food brand is expected in the future

As a feces shoveling officer, do you choose the pet food for Maozi to be an international brand or a domestic pioneer? With the innovation of domestic pet food brands and the alignment of production quality with international standards, more and more consumers no longer blindly follow the "popularity" and have more confidence in domestic products.

CBNData consumption big data shows that the number of online dog and cat food brands in MAT2021 has reached 37,000, of which TOP20 accounts for nearly 40%. Under the situation that the leading brands are driving together, the domestic brand Maifudi overtook at the curve this year, surpassing the international brands and becoming the No. 1 in the sales list of Tmall pet food.

With the spirit of being responsible for the health of pets to the end, nearly 60% of the officials said they would not change their brands easily, which shows that their brand loyalty is high. When selecting brands, they focus on word of mouth, followed by cost performance, convenience and other factors, and 34% of brands start to focus on the brand origin.

From the perspective of purchase channels, more than 70% of consumers choose Taobao and other comprehensive e-commerce platforms. Convenience, trust and promotion activities are the reasons why they cut their hands online; Nearly 40% of consumers prefer offline shopping, because they can see the real things and feel more confident, and the after-sales service is also more perfect.

Among the pet owners' preferred publicity channels, the Internet Red Grass Planting and variety show titles are among the best. In terms of publicity content, word of mouth, use sharing, and product innovation accounted for a relatively high proportion. At the same time, 36% of consumers began to seek expert consulting services. Local brands such as Maifudi actively communicate with consumers at the professional level through the establishment of a science and technology exchange department, the establishment of a nutrition and palatability testing center, and the opening of a factory.

Although China's pet industry started late, its development momentum is rapid and its growth potential cannot be underestimated. When the public's emotional demand for pets has increased unprecedentedly, their willingness to provide "krypton gold" for pets has also increased. With the upgrading of new consumption, balanced nutrition, selected formula and personalized customization have become the new trend of pet food consumption.

In the pet food industry, how will the accelerated rise of domestic brands upgrade themselves in all directions in the future?

In terms of products, attention should be paid to R&D and innovation, and anthropomorphic upgrading should be achieved in terms of ingredients, technology and flavor, so as to provide more personalized and customized pet food.

For example, cat food should follow the principle of meat feeding and constantly restore its eating habits; The dog food should meet the needs of dog omnivores and optimize the palatability of dog food on the premise of ensuring balanced nutrition. In addition, the baking methods are diversified, such as wind dried grains, freeze-dried grains, low-temperature baked grains, etc.

At the moment when the concept of scientific feeding is deeply rooted in people's minds, the raw materials and formula of pet food should also be upgraded accordingly. Fresh meat grains and grain free high meat staple grains will lead the trend of high-end food materials, and freeze-drying will become a hot snack consumption; At the same time, more attention should be paid to the rational matching of nutrition and functional ingredients in the staple food.

At the supply chain level, we should accumulate overseas raw material bases while tapping domestic supply chains; As far as cat food is concerned, such as salmon from northern Europe, tuna from Thailand and spring fish from Canada, etc., high-quality raw materials of dog food include beef from Argentina and poultry from Canada.

In brand marketing, we should strengthen the professional knowledge of pet care and form a deep connection with consumers; While strengthening the online layout, it also expands the brand voice through more diversified entertainment marketing methods.