The Segment Pet Markets Become Increasingly Popular

By Lily Wang

The world pet consumption market reached USD 159 billion in 2020， of which the North America market accounted for 44% of the total. As the Chinese economy grows and the population structure changes， Chinas pet market has seen excellent investment opportunities. Market segmentation becomes a trend for the industry.

Popularity of the pet expo

The recently ended 8th China Pet Expo featured many premium pet brands in the sectors of pet garments， food， lifestyle， pet exercise， medical treatment and pet training. The exhibition space increased to 70，000 sq.m.， and its scale continues to rise， with product variety increasing. The expo has provided a communication platform for pet lovers and the whole pet industry. The involvement of pet brands has also brought new value and experiences to the expo.

The expo host has focused on the quality and function of pet products， and also held many forum activities to discuss the feasibility of healthy pet life through different perspectives.

Interactive and fun games were played during the exhibition. The integration of offline stamp-collection and online social interaction platforms brought in a lot of data， increased fun at the exhibition and gave more elements to it.

At the pet expo， various pet products were especially eyecatching. For example， pet nutrition and health brand “Pets Honey” of Meida Holdings brought in their pet probiotic washing and care series， probiotic intestinal series， probiotic cleaning series and other products. At the exhibition venue of Ringpai pet hospital， the exhibitor organized many interactive activities using TikTok， Xiaohongshu， and Microblog； as a subsidiary of DJM group in Germany， Lu & Ba team， following the industrial design standard of software and hardware integration， and human-pet interaction， launched a series of new products， such as an automatic water dispenser， a pet nail grinder， an intelligent cat litter basin， an automatic traction rope， and more.

Nine trends emerge

In 2020， the number of dogs and cats raised in Chinas urban areas exceeded 100 million， and the scale of the pet consumption market will continue to surpass RMB 200 billion， showing a momentum of steady development. The development of mobile Internet ecology and the growth of young consumers has stimulated the emergence of new brands and business models. New consumption power has become an important variable in both brands and consumers. How to “embrace the new forces” has become a hot topic in the pet industry.

The booming pet economy has attracted many business tycoons to enter the market. With the large base of young pet owners， many new business models have started to emerge， including intelligent pet feeding， remote pet care， pet detective， cat coffee bars， cat rooms and other surrounding industries， which have attracted the attention of the public. The utilization rate of single pet smart appliances has reached 40.3%.

Liu Xiaolei， Deputy Editor of the White Paper on Chinas Pet Industry in 2020， also confirmed this viewpoint. She summarized nine consumption trends of the pet industry in 2021： the fact that the number of pet cats is growing rapidly； more and more people are raising pets in secondtier cities； WeChat has become a priority channel for pet owners to obtain information； expenditure on pet diagnosis and treatment will increase significantly； expensive medical treatment becomes the biggest pain point of pet care； pet foster consumption becomes more specialized； the hoarding of dry food for pet cats becomes more popular； pet owners focus more on the cost of pet snacks； the purchase rate of pet intelligence products continues to grow.

A t t h e 2 0 2 1 N e w Consumption Summit of the Pet Industry， Guo Fengqin， Chairman of Ranova， Zhu Hao， President of Mao Ning， Zheng Fei， Vice President of Guangdian capital， Ju Yi， CEO of Mollybox， Li Jin， Director of Mango Malanshan fund， Fang Xin， Founder of Wecarepet and other guests discussed the“supply and demand relationship of the capital and pet industry”. Both investment institutions and pet companies believe that the value of capital investment is not only about injecting liquidity to companies， but also providing systematic services to raise the corporate efficiency and achieve better synergy.

Guo Fengqin shared the development history of freeze-dried pet food， detailing that the pet industry requires emotion and culture. Now Ranova has exported its products to more than 20 countries globally， and provided product services for more than 20 million pet-owning families. Ranova has developed the new variety of freezedried pet food and led the formulation of industry standard for the freezedried pet food. Although developing relatively slowly， every step is solid.

Wang Lei， Head of the National General Agent Business Department of Runhe Supply Chain of New Ruipeng Group， shared his thoughts on the supply chain of the pet industry. He said that the pet industry has been seeing unbalanced development in breeding， pet food， medical services and pet supplies. The industry requires a fast digital transition and the exploration of consumers needs through the utilization of big data technology. The Runhe supply chain has established a business layout covering both online and offline， as well as private and public sectors. It has also formed five business segments of e-commerce， data， corporate services， logistics and finance， which are based on digitization， capitalization， online and offline channels and the integration of upstream and downstream industries. Such a business layout will empower both upstream and downstream industries in an all-round way.

How to embrace the new business force？

A survey of the white paper showed that online platforms are an important channel for consumers to obtain pet-related information. E-commerce and short video platforms have play an important role in connecting pet brands and young consumers. Xun Xia， Tmall pet products category director， Yu Hongyue， director of pet industry of TikTok， Mic， Director of BiliBili marketing center shared information about the scale and activity of the platforms they manage with relation to the pet industry.

It is worth noting that on e-commerce， short video and integrated video platforms， the pet business has maintained a high growth rate， and Generation Z are an important driving force for growth. In view of the pet industry， Tmall， TikTok and BiliBili have also offered supportive policies and marketing solutions to enable better growth of pet enterprises on their platforms.

Xu Kangze， CEO of Dazhe Media， interpreted how to build brand information from the unique perspective of consumers. He said that when consumers make purchasing decisions， there are fear points， pain points， itching points and comfort points. Enterprises should communicate with consumers from the t wo dimensions of“product” and “brand”. The “product”mainly includes quality and quality control， to solve the problem of quality sustainability. The “brand”includes professional services and information associated with the presale， sale and after-sale processes. In the building of information， enterprises shall first enhance loyalty and trust from consumers， and also create surprise and emotion. With the rise of young consumers， the pet industry has given birth to many new brands and business models， which not only bring different experiences to consumers， but also inject fresh momentum into industrial development.

Wang Qi， representative from the strategic investment department of Caogenzhiben， said that compared with the United States， the leading company stocks of Chinas pet industry vary largely in stock value， and the distribution of listed companies is concentrated. From the perspective of market space or the balance of market channels， the pet industry is a premium business sector， but the degree of capitalization is low. As people born after 1995 become the main force of consumption， the pet industry will enter a new phase when the product becomes the main focus. Leading pet companies will gain a larger share through the brand matrix. There is still a lot of room for development in corporate service market as well as the pet diagnosis and treatment field.

With the rapid growth of new brands， traditional business models are also being innovated. Gao Maoxiang， founder of Menta Pets， shared the innovation practices of stores in the mobile Internet era. He said that high loyalty and consumption frequency of store consumers are the main contributors to traffic. But the number of offline-channel brands with both excellent retail performance and services is scarce. After three years of development， Menta Pets has become one of the largest direct chain pet store brands in China. Their cooperation with stars and KOL， beautiful design and in-store furnishings， standardized business processes， highquality services， and integration of online traffic such as e-commerce and community are all experiences of its rapid growth.

Darrin， brand founder of Orange Co.， also shared his insights about creating immersive experiences in pet stores from four key words， including differentiation， artistry， theme and curiosity. He said that an immersive experience is an important feature of commercial interior space under the new retail context. Pet stores need to transition from commercial spaces to social interaction spaces， realize thematic layout and intelligent operation， continuously optimize consumer experience and create immersive consumption experiences.