Competitor Strategies in Pet Care

Delivery

This report comes in PPT.

Key findings

A nearly consistent competitive landscape

Global pet care leader board rankings remained largely consistent over the review period. Market momentum supported absolute growth but rising competition from regional players and private label impacted market share. Portfolios spread across price segments, categories and/or regions allowed players to retain competitiveness. However, a singular focus proved challenging for some. Ongoing capacity expansion investments indicate future prospects.

From premium products to a premiumised appeal

Continued humanisation of pets, particularly against the backdrop of declining human birth rates, supports demand for premium pet offerings. However, volume consumption lags as high prices limited access to aspirational consumers. Category is also challenged by value-orientated brands such as mid-priced and private label, enhancing their premium appeal through attributes such as product claims, packaging and formulation.

Targeting pet health through need states

Growing focus on pet health and wellbeing has its roots in human focus on the same for the self. As pet owners adopt a preventative approach for themselves, they are extending the same for their pets. Purchase decisions are being driven by the desire for specific benefits, making it imperative for brands to target specific needs rather than generic ones.

Distribution strategy

Pet care retail online recorded strong growth over the review period, while retail offline, despite being the bigger in absolute terms, experienced a drop in share of global pet retail. Digitisation has helped democratise distribution with control no longer limited to traditional grocery retailers. Pet shops and superstores, which command the bulk of pet retail offline, benefit from specialism, variety and most importantly, from an experiential aspect.