Marketing Analysis of Pet Food Industry - mainly focus on China

The pet industry has a history of more than 100 years in developed countries, mainly including pet breeding, pet commodities, pet breeding and trading, etc., and has formed a comprehensive industrial system.

The global pet food market developed earlier and has entered a mature stage, with a relatively stable overall pattern. The American Mars Company is one of the world's largest pet food companies. It has been producing pet food since 1935 and has many leading international pet food brands, including Polo dog food and Whiskas cat food; Nestlé Purina is the largest pet food in the United States One of the manufacturing companies; American Spectrum is a national consumer products company and a leading supplier of professional pet products. But there are no shortage of late-stage shows, such as Blue Buffalo, Snow Mountain, Aiken (Champion) and so on.

The biggest feature of the global pet food market is its high monopoly, which is basically monopolized by several large companies such as Mars and Nestlé. In the long-term market competition, these companies have mastered a wealth of market development experience, have high brand awareness, reputation and loyalty, and have strong product development and financial advantages. The development of these companies directly affects the world pet food market.

The table below shows the sales of the top ten pet food manufacturers in the world in 2018. As the table shows, in 2018, the top five pet food manufacturers in the world were Mars, Nestlé, JM Smucker, Hill's and Diamond Pet Foods. The top five companies had a total market sales of 37.77 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for 89.84% of the top ten companies’ total revenue.

Analysis of Industry in China

• Macro environment analysis

1. Economy: With the advent of a well-off society, household disposable income and per capita disposable income have increased substantially. Now that urban construction is integrated, the economic level of towns and villages has also been greatly improved, and people have certain spending power. The economy is abundant, people's perceptions of pets have also changed, and the spiritual need for pets has been further magnified.

2. Policy: China has issued supportive policies, laying a good industrial foundation and market environment for the development of the pet food industry. Since 2002, China has issued "Several Opinions on Promoting the Sustainable and Healthy Development of the Feed Industry", "The 12th Five-Year Development Plan for the Feed Industry", "The 13th Five-Year Development Plan for the National Feed Industry", and "Feed Quality and Safety Management Specification" and other documents. The above policies have laid a good industrial foundation and market environment for the development of the pet food industry.

3. Society: The number of pets kept is increasing year by year, and the main types are dogs and cats. According to a "White Paper on the Pet Industry" issued by Tsingshan Capital, more than 70% of pet owners in China are "post-80s" and "post-90s" who work alone to ease their lives and work. The pressure of keeping pets. The growth of the pet market is also driven by the elderly. In the context of an increase in the elderly population, China's pet consumption base continues to expand, which also drives the development of pet food, supplies, and medical services supported by this.

4. Technology: The development of science and technology, the Internet + e-commerce of pet raising, make consumption more convenient. E-commerce platforms such as JD.com provide more and more complete products and services for pet raising, and cultivate users' habit of buying pet food products online. These have promoted the maturity of the domestic pet market.

• Current Market Situation Analysis

1. Target Market: The target market is more inclined to first and second-tier cities, single or unmarried young struggling groups. This user group accepts new things faster. They are more susceptible to Internet information. They are also well-educated, understanding the importance of scientific feeding, and have the ability and willingness to provide pets with better conditions within an affordable range.

2. Market Size: From 2009 to 2018, the size of the pet food market has increased substantially, reaching 59.4 billion yuan in 2018, and it is expected to reach 120 billion in 2020. The proportion of domestic brands has increased year by year.

Market size of pet food industry in China from 2014 to 2022

Source: China Business Industry Research Institute

Conclusion

The pet food industry is in a stage of rapid development, and the pet food market continues to expand. The market share of domestic pet food brands is increasing year by year. However, American brands still occupy an important position worldwide, and Chinese pet consumers also prefer to buy imported brand pet food.

Therefore, we will study three world-renowned pet food brands to explore the reasons why they have always had such a high status, and hope that we can also give domestic brands some development suggestions.

By WANG Donglin

Source: https://www.qianzhan.com/analyst/detail/220/191018-baf1aa8e.html