E-commerce plays vital role in pet industry's explosive growth

China's pet industry has seen explosive growth, and online channels are playing a vital role in pet consumption, with high-end imported pet food and daily necessities, as well as grooming, and medical care products and services favored by a tech-savvy generation, a report said.

According to the report issued by Chinese e-commerce giant JD and global data analytics company Nielsen, the post-1985s and post-1990s account for a 40.3 percent share in the online pet consumption sector, and these pet owners are willing to pay more for premium imported pet products that are nutritious and safe.

The report also noted that unmarried and female groups take up the majority of online pet consumption, as more and more young consumers are no longer limited to the traditional mode -- getting married and giving birth to babies.

It is noteworthy that the unmarried groups are major contributors to the online consumption of dog and cat food and related services, while consumers who purchase aquatic animals and exotic pets, such as birds, mice and rabbits, are mostly married.

The top five cities that have seen the most spending on pets via online channels are Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Shenzhen.

Statistics from JD showed high-end and smart pet products were highly popular during this past Singles Day shopping festival, with the sales revenue of insect repellents for pets surging 243 percent year-on-year, and the sales of cat litter boxes increasing 232 percent, compared with same period of last year.

The year-on-year sales increase of imported pet brands was 118 percent higher than that of domestic brands in 2018. Services related to pets also are on the rise, such as grooming and medical care, JD said.