as very important, making it the top-ranked among this group. For retailers,
the factor tops out at 85%. Among all
respondent roles, new product trends
ranks first except for veterinarians
and respondents holding university/re-searcher/scientist positions.
Considering the nine regions in the
survey, new product trends heads the
list for five and holds second place for
all but one of the others—
South/Central Africa, where it is third. Tellingly,
this factor rates even higher in the
less developed markets of South Asia
(77.4%) and North Africa/Middle East
(74.2%) than it does in the developed
markets of North America (71.6%) and
Western Europe (69.7%), signaling the
strong interest in commercially prepared petfood in emerging markets.
Cultural shifts is the other global
factor cited as very important by more
than 60% of respondents. The most
important facets of this factor are the
human/pet relationship and ability of
consumers to afford pet care. Of the
remaining 10 factors, seven are judged
to be very important by 54%-60% of
respondents, while three fall below this
level. Organic petfood comes in last
at 31%, reflecting both the low penetration of organic products in mature
markets as well as the much lower level
of interest in mid-level and emerging
markets.
Human/pet relationship
heads trend list
While new product trends scores
highest among the 12 broad factors,
three individual elements (specific
aspects comprising the broad factors)
rate even higher. The human/pet relationship, an aspect of the cultural shifts
factor, rates as very important among
almost four-fifths (78%) of survey respondents.
Convenience, under the packaging
trends factor, and special ingredient
foods (i.e., functional/condition-specific/novel ingredient foods), under
new product trends, each garner “very
important” votes from 68%. The three
elements placing lowest in the survey,
each ranked very important by less
than 25% of overall respondents, are
homogenization of product preferences
(under globalization), postponing marriage (under demographic) and global
production (under organic petfood).
South Asia: high priority
on marketer shifts
Looking across all four respondent
classifications—company type, professional role, level of country development
and region—an even 78% of marketers
cite branding as being very important
to the petfood industry during the next
five years, making this the highest-ranking trend by this measure. More
than three-quarters of two other classifications—respondents from South
Asia and manufacturers—say new
product trends is very important, at
77% and 76%, respectively.
By index, the highest ranking factor
is marketer shifts, as rated by respondents who work in or with regions including South Asia. These survey participants are 36% more likely than all
respondents on average (index of 136)
to view this factor as very important.
As in other emerging markets, the petfood fortunes of South Asia (i.e., India
and Pakistan) depend on the advances
of Western influences into the market,
via manufacturers like Mars division
Effem India Pvt. Ltd. (Pedigree) and
international retailers like Wal-Mart
and Carrefour.
New products expanding to
less developed markets
Last year saw the biggest global
surge of new petfood products ever,
with a growing share of the activity
coming from mid-level and emerging
markets in Eastern Europe and Latin
America (see Figure 7, p. 25). During
2006, 655 new dog and cat food products appeared globally, up from 280
in 2002, according to Datamonitor’s
Productscan Online service.
In the US—which accounted for approximately half of 2006 introductions
in mature country markets—
marketers launched 254 new dog and cat
food product lines encompassing 1,181
SKUs (including different flavors,
Three markets,
mature to emerging
Australia ranks among the top 10
most developed markets for petfood in the world along with the UK
and other Western European nations,
Canada, the US and Japan. Accordingly, market growth in Australia,
where pet ownership is already very
high, is coming primarily from the
conversion of existing customers to
higher-priced fare targeted to specific
health concerns and pet pampering.
At the same time, locally based
manufacturers continue to target
multiple export markets, with the
highest degree of overlap coming
from Southeast Asia, North America
and Western Europe. Half of respondents also cite involvement in South
Asia, North Africa/Middle East and
South/Central Africa, with at least
one-third reporting involvement in
Eastern Europe and Latin America.
Respondents based in Australia
unanimously say high-growth segments
such as treats are very important to
the development of the global petfood
industry during the next five years, with
packaging convenience and the human/pet relationship also scoring high
(see Figure 4). Reflecting the situation
in most developed countries, a sizable
majority of Aussie petfood manufacturers consider consumer advertising
and promotion very important, along
with an urbanization-driven emphasis
Figure 5. Top Mexican
petfood trends, 2007
➤ Premium/value-added vs.
economy/mid pricing;
➤ High-growth segments such as
treats;
➤ Functional/condition-specific/
novel ingredient foods;
➤ Educational and informational
programs about pet care;
➤ Support of manufacturer brands
with consumer advertising/promotion; and
