Petfood Industry - July 2014 - 50
50 www.petfoodindustry.com Market Report Get more Check out the new Market Data section of PetfoodIndustry.com, at www.petfoodindustry.com/MarketData.aspx. Petfood purchasing patterns of rural pet owners AT PETFOOD FORUM 2014, GfK reported an estimate of US$3 billion for petfood sales in 2013 through the US farm/feed store channel. That figure translates to over a 10th of the US$28 billion retail market for petfood, per Packaged Facts' US Pet Market Outlook 2014-2015. THIS ATTENTION-WORTHY SEGMENT US farm/feed store size follows from two main factors: The rural share of the pet dog and channel a significant cat population and the relative power in the petfood levels of petfood spending by rural pet owners. market To gauge the rural share of total pet owners, we can look at Simmons national consumer survey data from Experian Marketing Services, which classifies US counties into four tiers by population density. The fourth tier-comprising the least populated counties-represents in aggregate 15% of total US households but accounts for a slightly disproportionate 16.6% share of dog owners and 18.7% share of cat owners. Moreover, rural households skew to multiple pet ownership, accounting for slightly higher shares of pet owners with four or more dogs (17.2%) or four or more cats (19.8%). This skew is understandable enough, given the less crowded conditions in these fourth-tier counties: 30% of pet-owning households in these rural counties own at least two acres of land surrounding the home, compared with 11% of US pet-owning households overall and only 4% of pet households who live in the most populous metro counties. On the other hand, spending by rural pet owners on pet products skews in the opposite direction. According to Packaged Facts' April/ May 2014 Pet Owner Survey, only 25% of pet owners who live in rural areas spend more than US$50 monthly on pet products overall, compared with 35% of urban or suburban pet owners. THE WALMART LOW pricing retail empire ("Save money. Live better.") plays into this effect. Our survey data show that 46% of rural pet owners buy petfood Table 1: Top channels for purchasing petfood products: at Walmart, compared with 30% of Rural, suburban and urban pet owners, 2014 urban or suburban pet owners (see Rural pet Suburban pet Urban pet Table 1). Correspondingly, rural owners owners owners pet owners are significantly less Walmart 46% 30% 30% likely to shop at pet superstores, which feature a higher percentage PetSmart 17% 33% 38% of premium and superpremium Supermarkets 27% 28% 23% petfood offerings. Petco 12% 24% 27% By extension, rural pet owners are Supercenters/discount stores other than Walmart 22% 21% Source: Packaged Facts April/May 2014 Pet Owner Survey 22% Rural pet owners are significantly less likely to shop at pet superstores, which feature a higher percentage of premium and superpremium petfood offerings. David Sprinkle is the publisher and research director at Packaged Facts, a leading supplier of market research on the US pet industry. July 2014 PetfoodIndustry
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