Market Focus - Pet Owners : It's Raining Cat and Dog Lovers
February 2008 By W. Eric Martin & Linda Formichelli
|
Bountiful Litter
Dogs and cats are the most frequently owned pets, according to the APPMA, with dogs in 44.8 million households and cats in 38.4 million; freshwater fish are the next most commonly owned pet (14.2 million homes), followed by birds (6.4 million), small animals like hamsters or ferrets (6 million), reptiles (4.8 million), and equines (4.3 million). In terms of overall numbers, freshwater fish outnumber everything else with 142 million in homes. Cats come next with 88.3 million, then dogs with 74.3 million.
Pet industry expenditures totaled $38.5 billion in 2006. Pet food accounted for the bulk of the spending at $15.4 billion, followed by roughly equal numbers for supplies and over-the-counter medicine ($9.3 billion), and vet care ($9.2 billion). Rounding out the category are pet services such as grooming and boarding ($2.7 billion) and live animal purchases ($1.9 billion).
The Truth About Cats and Dogs
Pet owners are of all ages and genders, though women may dominate the market. Jo Sullivan, senior vice president of development and communications with the ASPCA, says that while the nonprofit’s donor base is 90 percent female with an average age of more than 55, its initial experiences in retail have revealed a different market. “We launched a licensed pet line this year to reach the pet parent audience, and we’ve found there’s not a clear demographic—no age range or male-to-female ratio—that tends to dominate,” she says.
Geoff Mott, president of PetGadgets.com, on the other hand, says 80 percent of the site’s buyers are women. “Our predominant readership is female,” agrees Lisa Evans, circulation director for Belvoir Media, which publishes Whole Dog Journal, Dog Watch and Cat Watch. “More women make purchasing decisions for the pets than men, and when we’ve done testing, women respond better to the lists.”
Product Crossbreeding
While people often joke about treating their pets as children, sales figures show this statement to be true. Ellen Blumenkrantz, an independent list broker who works with one of the largest pet mailers in the industry, says households without children—whether due to the adults being childless or to the children having moved away from home—tend to spend more on their pets than households where children are present.
Companies Mentioned:
 |
|
|
