Strategy and creative firm MarketPlace Branding has been serving the pet and human nutrition markets since 2002. Recently, it published a new report that highlights trends, many of which we’ve seen embraced by humans. Nicole Hill, executive director of strategy at MarketPlace delved into some of the key insights from the research study on pet supplement shoppers to highlight the opportunities for human supplement brands to strategically enter the pet category.
"Nearly 37% of U.S. pet parents report purchasing supplements for their pet, 43% of those give supplements daily, 34% report giving them weekly and 11% on occasion," Hill said.
"So for some, it's [because] their pet has seasonal allergies, much like many humans do, so they might just give their pet a supplement for allergy relief during that seasonal allergy occasion. Or if they get hotspots, things like that. For others, they take more of a daily wellness approach, joint health, skin and coat oftentimes are part of that daily regimen, digestive health as well has really been growing."
While inflation impacts just about every category, Hill said the pet category in general tends to be less affected than other categories.
"By and large pet parents reported they would be pretty brand loyal and that they would cut expenses in other areas before or in lieu of cutting expenses related to their pet," she explained. "They would spend less on their own food, their own transportation, their own health care, their own housing in some cases. So really it says a lot about how people treat their pets–sometimes better than themselves."
Pet parents also care about the environment, with sustainability top of mind for many.
"Looking at those upcycled ingredients, sustainable options for packaging, ingredient sourcing, things like that, I think will be a highlight of some of the takeaways we’ll have from Expo West across both human and pet nutrition trends," Hill added.
When it comes to ingredients associated with positive health benefits, antioxidants came in first, followed by fish oil and probiotics. Postbiotics ranked 12th, but Hill doesn’t expect that ranking to stick.
"I'll be keeping an eye out [at Expo West] for postbiotics because, as I mentioned, while those are certainly quite a distance from where prebiotics and probiotics are today, I expect that they will continue to grow in prominence and awareness,” she said.
To hear more on the report and opportunities it identifies, listen to the NutraCast.
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