Durable Dog and Cat Pet Care Products in the US, 5th Edition

Durable Dog and Cat Pet Care Products in the US, 5th Edition

Like other non-food supplies categories, pet durables has faced significant challenges to growth in the past year. In the previous edition of this report, Packaged Facts discussed how pandemic-driven purchasing had led to impressive growth in the durable pet products market, resulting in a 17% increase in sales in 2020 and a similarly high 16% in 2021. This growth was a distinct change in this market from 2019, when sales increased by only 3%. Then, in 2022 and even more so in 2023, despite price hikes due to inflation, durables categories once more subsided to pre-pandemic growth trends, with many marketers reporting negative growth toward the end of the period.

Challenges to growth include inflation unprecedented in recent decades, a declining dog population, and generational changes in pet ownership levels. Further complicating the picture was the boom in growth during the pandemic years, which led to many pet owners purchasing a host of durable products that don’t tend to require replacement on a frequent basis. Overall, the durables market ended 2023 at approximately $8.4 billion in sales, up 1.6% from $8.3 billion in 2022 and $5.4 billion in 2018, for a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.3% for 2018-2023, due almost exclusively to growth earlier in the period.

Although the pandemic was a boon for durable pet product marketers in 2020 and 2021, more recently this success has turned into a challenge as pet owners feel less of a need to replace durable items that they so recently purchased. Packaged Facts March 2024 Survey of Pet Owners found that among pet owners, 42% agreed that they hadn’t replaced any of my durable (non-food) pet products with newer items in the past two years as a result of having purchased these products in 2020 or 2021. Especially with the economic challenges many pet owners are facing, they are less likely to spend money on durable items that are older but still in usable condition and more likely to put off replacing these items. As such, spending on durable pet products is expected to be slightly lower than the pre-pandemic normal in the coming years, with annual sales gains through 2028 combining into a compound annual growth rate of less than 2%. That said, one development that could drive growth higher would be a return to growth in dog ownership more quickly than anticipated.

Focusing on product innovation and consumer preferences, Durable Dog and Cat Pet Care Products in the US, 5th Edition, breaks out this market into seven categories:

• Toys
• Collars, leashes, and harnesses
• Carriers, crates, and housing
• Beds
• Bowls, feeders, waterers
• Apparel/fashion accessories
• Litter boxes and accessories

This fully updated fifth edition quantifies the market as a whole as well as category by category, calculating annual sales and historical compound annual growth rates for 2018 through 2023, and projected growth rates through 2028. Key trends explored include the impact of inflation on pet spending, the effects of the decline in the dog population, the focus on home and its strengthening of pet owners’ relationship with their pets, the overarching focus on health and wellness, and retail trends including the ongoing shift to e-commerce and omnimarket participation. Through custom surveying in Packaged Facts’ Surveys of Pet Owners, the study highlights consumer purchasing patterns and preferences in each category. Including over one hundred product illustrations, the report discusses trends in marketing and new product development, while also identifying key players in the market overall and at the category level. Additional data sources include data from MRI-Simmons National Consumer Studies.