Pet Product Retail and Internet Shopping Trends, 5th Edition

Report Overview

This report focuses on retail and e-commerce sales and pet product shopping patterns in the US. The analysis includes topline sales and channel quantification for pet foods/treats and non-food pet supplies, with separate focus chapters on pet food and on pet medications (excluding supplements). Veterinary channel product sales are noted in context, particularly for the pet medications category.

Retail sales of pet products will reach $98 billion in 2024, although the 2024 growth rate is down from COVID-19 and inflation-fueled gains in 2021 through 2023. Breaking out retail sales by product sector, pet food/treats account for 69% of the total.

The e-commerce share of retail pet product sales has jumped from 24% in 2019 to 38% in 2024. The lion’s share of those gains, however, occurred in the earlier part of this period, when at-home shopping surged due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While COVID-19 forcibly accelerated e-commerce sales, it’s not clear to what degree the pandemic permanently boosted online pet product shopping momentum.

In the wake of pet care (especially pet food) price inflation, what is clear is that affordability is in the limelight, with retailers and e-tailers focusing on value to attract shoppers and compete for customer loyalty. In the short term, the foremost opportunity for pet retailers will be to help pet owners navigate tough economic times by offering new products to facilitate DIY pet care, value-priced products including private labels, and flexible payment options. Related strategic opportunities discussed in this report include customer reward programs, automatic ordering services, and direct-to-consumer sales.

The information in this report was obtained from primary and secondary research. Our estimates of retail dollar sales and shared are based on reported revenues of retailers, general business and pet industry trade press, and other market research sources. Primary research includes national online consumer polls of US adult pet owners (age 18+) conducted on an ongoing basis by Packaged Facts. Detailed shopping pattern and shopper demographics discussion draws on trended MRI-Simmons National Consumer Studies.

Pet Specialty vs. All Other Sales

Pet product sales can also be broken out into pet specialty vs. general market/other:

• Pet specialty combines traditionally brick & mortar-based retailers (such as PetSmart, Petco, Pet Supplies Plus, and independent pet stores) with e-commerce platforms (including Chewy and 1800petmeds.com as pure play examples, and PetSmart.com or Petco.com as omnichannel operations).

• Pet product retailers other than pet specialty include general/mass market stores (such as Walmart, Costco, Kroger,) and specialty retailers other than pet (such as Tractor Supply), along with pure play or omnichannel e-commerce platforms (such as Amazon, Walmart.com, Costco.com, Kroger.com, and TractorSupply.com).

Looking ahead, the rest of consumer retailing has an advantage in sales gains over pet specialty, reflecting not only the strength of Amazon and the website/home delivery programs of Walmart, but the sheer numerical advantage of large retail chains and leading catalog/online players that offer pet products as part of their overall mix.

Pet Industry Reset

Beyond pet product distribution and marketing communication strategies, all pet and vet industry opportunities intertwine with channel shopping trends, as well as with the internet, smartphones, and social media as sales juggernauts and as consumer behavior influencers.

A reset of the US pet industry is evident in several trends and effects:

• a permanent blending of pet products and pet services, including related financial services

• a permanent remix of physical and digital platform shopping behaviors, with buy online, pick up at store (BOPUS) and curbside bridging the two

• in an omnimarket era, on top of mergers and acquisitions, a fluid role for partnerships

• an entrenched role for autoship/subscription purchasing in key consumables categories

• a competitive focus on efficient home delivery of products, next day if not same day (and perhaps 24/7), as larger consumer market trends play out in pet products

• in a digitalized era of ubiquitous product options, an essential role for store brands/private label and customer rewards programs

• beyond customer rewards programs, the growing role for pet care financing options, with fintech trends such as “buy now, pay later” taking root in the pet industry

• a simultaneous consolidation of the veterinary sector by corporate aggregators and diversification of the veterinary sector by business type, with the latter including in-store clinics or at-store vet clinic pop-ups, along with online pet pharmacies

These trends are synergistic and intertwined, so best wielded in strategic combinations. For brick & mortar retailers, BOPUS (or BOPIS) and curbside pickup programs that find ways to bring shoppers in-store can offset some of the downsides to providing home delivery services. Autoship can intertwine with direct-to-consumer (DTC), telemedicine, and/or customer rewards programs. Store brands similarly intertwine with customer loyalty and reward programs, which in turn tie into a retailer’s digital platform/app marketing strategies. Competing in the omnimarket encourages if not compels tactical partnerships, including with payment service providers.