Report Overview
More than just medically diagnosed conditions, the concept of pet health and wellness now extends to include a range of conditions and situations that impact the lives of both pets and pet owners. Pet Health and Wellness: US Pet Market Trends and Opportunities explores how health and wellness trends have impacted all four sectors of the pet industry, looking at influences in pet food/treats, non-food supplies, veterinary services, and non-medical services.
This brand-new, first edition report offers an overview of the attitudes pet owners have toward the health and wellness of their pets and how these attitudes impact the decisions pet owners make as they decide which products to buy and which services to use.
Pet foods and supplements targeting specific health conditions, health-monitoring cat litter, high-tech products that track pet activity and connect pet owners directly to vets, and pet services providers that position around “whole pet” care are only some of the areas of opportunity covered in this completely new report from Packaged Facts. In the current economically challenging times, as pet owners continue to face the fallout of several years of elevated prices, pet marketers, retailers, and service providers need to position themselves around this trend that encourages pet owners to invest in keeping their pets healthy and happy. Packaged Facts survey results show that over half of pet owners are willing to cut back on their own personal expenses to make sure their pets are health, an attitude that pet marketers and retailers should keep in mind.
Featuring in-depth analysis of these and other opportunities relating to health and wellness in the pet market, Packaged Facts’ Pet Health and Wellness: US Pet Market Trends and Opportunities examines historical and projected overall sales in all four pet market sectors through the lens of pet health and wellness. The report follows the consumer trends impacting the market, as well as marketing and retail channel trends. Highlights include data from never-before asked survey questions from Packaged Facts’ proprietary November 2024 Surveys of Pet Owners, as well as detailed analysis of omnimarket strategies involving health and wellness in the form of retailer/marketer overlap, mergers and acquisitions, and pet services.
Pet Market Growth
Among pet owners, marketers, and retailers alike, the focus on pet health and wellness is so ubiquitous that virtually all pet products and services are able to claim some sort of physical and/or emotional benefit. This focus has driven pet market sales in recent years, with pet owner concern for their pets’ health and wellness an overarching influence.
Pet industry sales are projected to total $151 billion in 2024, up 4.2% from 2023. This growth has moderated from the near double-digit increases seen in some sectors in the past few years. Uncustomary inflation drove growth across consumer markets between 2020 and 2023, and pet owners were not spared. Between Q1 2021 and Q4 2023, for example, the urban Consumer Price Index (CPI) for pet food jumped by 24%, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Any market gains must be viewed subjectively against this backdrop, with sales growth in all pet sectors reflecting not just unit or volume growth, but primarily – and in some cases entirely – the higher prices.
The 2020-2022 years were a boom period for pet market dollar growth. Overall sales rose 9.9% in 2020, up from 6.9% in 2019, followed by increases of 13.8% in 2021 and 9.3% in 2022. All four sectors did especially well in 2021, though in the case of hands-on non-medical pet services such as grooming and boarding growth was merely a rebound from pandemic-stricken 2020. During 2022 and 2023, sales growth was largely a function of inflation, with pet food sales up 14.5% and 11.8%, respectively, and pet supplies sales up 6.5% and 5.3%, respectively. Non-medical pet services revenues rose 8.0% in 2022 and 9.5% in 2023 due mainly to ongoing strength in pet insurance, which helped to offset weakness in grooming and training. Growth in the veterinary sector was weaker, at 4.1% in 2022 and 4.2% in 2023.
Although inflation has gradually decreased, it will take the pet market, like virtually every other consumer goods industry, some time to get back to business as usual. The pandemic-heightened focus on health and wellness, along with the related “pets as family” dynamic, has been responsible for keeping growth going despite inflation and the economic challenges facing pet owners.
Health and Wellness in Economically Challenging Times
As of the end of 2024, although inflation has slowed dramatically, prices for most consumer goods remain elevated, and consumers who have been battling challenging economic conditions since the onset of the pandemic have been strained to the breaking point. Although the pet market has proven itself to be amazingly resilient in both this and previous economic crises, pet owners have only so much room to bend before they break. In 2022 and into 2023, inflation drove much of the sales growth in consumer markets, the pet market included. Although inflation slowed significantly towards the end of 2023, prices overall were still up 3.4% at the end of the year; necessities – including healthcare, shelter, and food – were, once again, among the top increases.
Interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve that were intended to beat back inflation continue to put additional pressure on consumers, and as of December 2024 the Fed has provided only minimal relief along these lines. Also complicating the economic situation for many pet owners is the resumption of student loans repayments, which had been paused during the pandemic but must now be factored into monthly spending plans. This is especially true among the prime pet-owning generation, millennials.
Pet Health and Wellness Report Scope
This report covers health and wellness trends across the pet market, including:
- Pet food and treats: products focusing on high-quality, functional ingredients are front and center, with products frequently positioning around health benefits.
- Non-food supplies: aside from the obvious health focus of pet medications, pet supplements have achieved growth well above the pet market average for the past several years, health monitoring cat litter is gaining ground, and durable products targeting pet health and safety are becoming more common.
- Veterinary services: veterinary care is already firmly rooted in pet wellness, but a shift towards DIY health care is slowly impacting how vets interact with pet owners.
- • Non-medical pet services: Grooming and pet sitting/walking services are increasingly focused on the health and wellness benefits they provide
The report provides historical and projected sales for all four pet industry sectors. Note that 2024 sales have not yet been finalized and as such are indicated as projected.
Pet Health and Wellness Report Methodology
The information contained in this report was obtained from primary and secondary research. Primary research includes national online consumer polls of US adult pet owners (age 18+) conducted on an ongoing basis by Packaged Facts, to measure purchasing patterns and attitudes regarding pet products and services. With sample sizes of approximately 2,000 pet owners, these surveys are based on national online research panels that are census representative on the primary demographic measures of age, gender, geographic region, race/ethnicity, and household income. The Packaged Facts Surveys of Pet Owners cited in this report were primarily conducted in January, July-August, and November 2024.
Our primary research also includes interviews with pet market experts; participation in pet industry events including SUPERZOO, Petfood Forum, and Petcare Innovation Summit; on-site examination of service provider venues; and internet canvassing.
Secondary research includes information- and data-gathering from consumer business and trade publications including Pet Age, Pet Business, Petfood Industry, and The Fountain Report; company profiles in trade and consumer publications; annual reports of companies in the pet market; and information culled from Packaged Facts’ extensive pet market research database and report collection.
Our estimates of market size and company performance are based on reported revenues of pet services providers; government data, including US Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Surveys; and figures from other market research sources.