Lynn Dornblaser, director of Innovation & Perception at Mintel, a world market intelligence company, mentioned there’s extra innovation in pet meals than human meals nowadays. The pet meals market continues to introduce new merchandise, with canine and cat meals making up about half of recent product introductions.
“A couple of third of pet meals product introductions within the final 5 years had been from new corporations or manufacturers, which is far greater than what we see in human meals,” famous Dornblaser. “And the best share of pet meals launches appeared in Europe.”
Throughout her session, “Nourishing companions: rising developments within the world pet meals market” that opened the American Feed Business Affiliation’s Pet Meals Convention held in Atlanta on January 30 throughout IPPE 2024, Dornblaser mentioned there are three key world developments for pet meals to discover:
- Product and system personalization
- Pure and easy-to-understand components
- Sustainability
1. Product and system personalization
Weight problems in pets is a significant concern for shoppers, and a personalized, customized weight-reduction plan may present pet house owners with help, defined Dornblaser.
“A key concern amongst pet house owners – and one that might profit from a personalised method is weight problems,” she mentioned. “In France, for instance, 33% of pet meals patrons assume their pet would profit from dropping some weight. Within the UK, 62% of pet meals patrons agree their pet would profit from dropping some weight and can be serious about customized meal plans.”
Personalization can take many varieties, and “well being” means many various issues to every pet proprietor. There are merchandise in the marketplace that supply diminished energy, are formulated to assist renal perform and intestinal steadiness for senior canine, and have prebiotics to assist complete physique well being.
“Pet meals shoppers now search for merchandise to assist in ‘well being span’ — not life span,” mentioned Dornblaser. “They respect merchandise that promise to optimize well being.”
She famous claims associated to wellness have grown on canine and cat meals packaging. Whereas altering a pet’s meals could be difficult as a consequence of the potential for digestive points as a result of through the transition, shoppers appear able to pivot their pets’ diets to optimize their well being.
“Within the U.S., a sizeable variety of cat and canine house owners have modified their pet’s meals up to now 12 months in a bid to enhance their well being and wellness,” mentioned Dornblaser.
What’s the way forward for product and personalization? Diets tailor-made to DNA.
Whereas there are canine meals for particular breeds, and DNA testing to grasp the breed make-up of pets, there’s a niche for DNA-tailored pet meals, mentioned Dornblaser.
“As shoppers proceed to search for methods to personalize and optimize their very own well being, we are able to anticipate some shoppers to contemplate the similar for his or her pets,” she mentioned. “In France, 31% of pet house owners can be prepared pay to have their pet’s DNA teste to search out out the healthiest weight-reduction plan for the pet. Manufacturers, nevertheless, might want to guarantee the worth shouldn’t be prohibitive.”
Fully personalized wholesome formulation can enchantment to these shoppers prepared and capable of pay a premium for pet meals, mentioned Dornblaser. “Past that, supply merchandise that deal with weight administration.”
2. Pure and easy-to-understand components
Like human meals, a pattern towards pure product values continues to be robust in canine and cat meals, with a give attention to no synthetic components and a small-but-growing chilled and frozen choices.
“Within the U.S., 23% of pet house owners search for merchandise with restricted ingredient lists,” mentioned Dornblaser.
For instance, Mars Petcare expanded its Nutro vary with Nutro So Easy, a pet food that’s formulated with only a handful of key components, that are illustrated and labelled prominently on the entrance of the pack.
“No ‘unhealthy stuff’ tends to give attention to components,” mentioned Dornblaser. “Globally, no components and no synthetic colours, flavors or preservatives lead in terms of claims round total ‘naturalness.’”
One method to ship on “naturalness” is frozen or chilled pet meals. These choices usually tend to characteristic pure claims than shelf-stable launches.
“As a way to present pure merchandise for his or her furry relations, some pet house owners are turning to ‘recent’ pet meals launches, whether or not frozen, chilled or selfmade,” mentioned Dornblaser. “International frozen and chilled launches usually tend to characteristic pure claims than shelf-stable launches.”
She did observe that solely about 1% of product launches in any given 12 months globally are frozen or refrigerated.
What lies forward for the pure ingredient pattern? Frozen/chilled pet meals goes extra mainstream.
Though the brand new product introduction numbers are small, retailers are starting to supply their very own frozen/chilled pet meals, mentioned Dornblaser. Woolworths, South Africa, presents frozen pet meals within the pet aisle freezers. Asda, UK, launched a non-public label line in 2022, a primary for the nation. Within the U.S., some retailers promoting JustFoodForDogs have kitchens the place shoppers can watch the meals prep. And in 2022, Mars acquired Nom Nom Nom, a model that creates tailor-made chilled meats.
“In pet meals, it’s not a couple of small variety of components, besides when it generally is,” she mentioned. “Quite, it’s about purity and provenance of the primary components.”
3. Sustainability
Within the pet meals business, all varieties of sustainability claims are rising, particularly these associated to packaging. There are additionally a number of advantages linked to ingredient sustainability which offer myriad methods to entice shoppers.
As merchandise bearing environmental or moral claims proceed to develop, there are some key areas for the pet meals business examine, mentioned Dornblaser, together with:
- Continued give attention to sustainable packaging
- Sustainability of components, together with regenerative agriculture
- Upcycled components
- Water use
Customers need to learn about their pet meals’s environmental affect, says Dornblaser.
“Within the U.S., 61% of pet meals patrons need manufacturers to restrict their environmental affect,” she mentioned. “In Colombia and Mexica, 62% of shoppers say environmentally pleasant packaging is necessary to them when selecting any meals, human or pet. In Italy, 79% of pet house owners want to know extra in regards to the eco footprint of the pet meals they purchase. And in Germany, 54% of pet house owners say moral options to common pet merchandise are at all times preferable.
“Customers need to know what’s in there … it’s that straightforward,” she mentioned.
Some pet meals manufacturers are speaking about regenerative agriculture, in keeping with the motion in human meals. “Numbers are small,” mentioned Dornblaser. “However there’s curiosity there.” Within the U.S., 74% of shoppers say corporations must be extra clear about their farming practices.
Curiosity in upcycled components can be rising amongst pet house owners. In Poland, 58% of pet meals patrons are serious about pet meals made with components that may in any other case go to waste; 68% of French shoppers assume pet meals comprised of leftover components has a constructive affect on the setting.
What is likely to be coming down the street within the sustainability pattern? A give attention to much less water use.
“On its packaging, Purina Canine Chow Additional Life Meat and Hen Double Protein Meals from Argentina specifies the producer reduces water consumption by 15%,” defined Dornblaser. “Dasmark Levi Home Full Meals from Finland explains on its packaging that ‘potato farming is ecological and requires a lot much less water than, for instance, rice farming.’”
Customers aren’t prepared to pay extra for fundamentals of sustainability, mentioned Dornblaser. They anticipate corporations to do the heavy lifting and can reward with shopping for the product – on the similar value.
“There are various methods in with sustainability, however addressing packaging is the commonest,” she mentioned. “Talk all that you simply are doing to be good for the nice of pets AND the planet.”
New product developments have been the main focus of Lynn Dornblaser’s profession for nearly 35 years, giving her a singular perspective on {the marketplace} and new product improvement. An skilled public speaker, Lynn has been quoted by main U.S. information organizations, together with The Wall Road Journal, USA Right now, The New York Occasions and CNN.
