China's pet sector purrs with growth

As consumption demand rises, more focus given to marketing, quality, innovation

On a typical day, Coco, a British shorthair cat, or the "daughter" of Jiang Hai and Yang Yi, wakes up to get some water from a smart drinking machine. She stretches and yawns lazily, then strolls to a smart feeder for her first meal of the day. The smart drinking machine and smart feeder record Coco's diet information.

During the day, Coco feels free to eat and drink at will. When she goes to the litter box, the automatic box gathers her droppings into a plastic bag. At six o'clock, when Jiang returns home, he pets Coco, checks her daily diet condition and picks up the trash and dumps it.

This is the typical day of a young family in Beijing with a cat, using technology to improve the lives of their fur babies. With the consumption upgrade and the number of Chinese families with pets rising, pet owners are spending increasing amounts of money on their pets, contributing to the burgeoning pet economy.

A recent report from market consultancy iiMedia Research showed that China's pet sector is expected to surge 25.2 percent year-on-year to 493.6 billion yuan ($70.7 billion) this year. By 2025, the market is expected to total 811.4 billion yuan. Between 2017 and 2021, China's pet sector nearly doubled, demonstrating the great growth potential of the market.

In October, Chinese e-commerce giant JD issued the 2022 White Paper on China's Pet Industry. According to the white paper, in 2021, 91.47 million households were raising pets and the figure was estimated to be over 100 million this year.

Domestic media tracking agency TopKlout said that currently, the post-1990s generation is dominating the pet sector, taking up 46 percent of the consumption group in 2021.

Consumers' enthusiasm for pets is causing a pet consumption IPO boom this year. In March, Shandong Luscious Pet Food Inc was listed on the Beijing Stock Exchange. In August, Wenzhou Yuanfei Pet Toy Products Co Ltd appeared on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. On Nov 18, Gambol Pet Group Co Ltd filed for an IPO on the Growth Enterprise Market.

Competition in the pet consumption market mainly exists in pet products like the smart home appliances Jiang and Yang use, as well as pet food and pet healthcare.

Guo Weixue, cofounder and CEO of Petkit Network Technology Co Ltd, a Shanghai-based designer and producer of smart pet products, has seen rising growth opportunities in the pet market.

"We started the business in 2013. During our observations, we found that with economic and social development, people tend to embrace their home lives, where they yearn for love, care and companionship," he said.

A recent report jointly released by Munich-based consulting firm Roland Berger and T-mall — an online shopping platform of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba — showed that Chinese pet owners' consumption level is not necessarily related to their income level. More than 65 percent of the surveyed high-consumption pet owners were consumers with low consumption vitality on T-mall. The pet owners' consumption level is more determined by how much they care for their pets.

"Pet owners have intimate relationships with their pets. However, busy city life makes it difficult for modern people to set aside a block of time to accompany their pets. Like a father often bringing his daughter a gift after returning home from a business trip, pet owners usually compensate their pets with pet-related consumer goods," Guo said.

"An increasing number of brands are noticing the trend. Based on the variety and life cycle of pets, they began to customize and produce refined, professional products to relieve consumers' pet care anxiety," said Roland Berger and T-mall's report.

For example, in October, PETKIT launched a new product — the pet dryer box. Priced at 1,999 yuan, the dryer box adopts three drying modes, covering six grades of wind power. To make the pet more comfortable, it adopts temperature control technology and simulates natural wind to dry cats after a bath.

Within the box, the cat is gently dried. As felines are extremely sensitive to unexpected sounds, the dryer box controls the amount of noise to under 45 decibels.

"Pet-related products have become more and more delicate, balancing pet owners' convenience with pets' comfort," Guo said.

According to Guo, PETKIT is estimated to earn 800 million yuan in revenue by the end of this year, growing 33.33 percent on a yearly basis. Guo expects to see the figure reach around 1 billion yuan next year thanks to the rapid development of China's pet sector.

He said that in the coming one to two years, the company's business focus will be on pet health management. By offering veterinarians and pet-use household medicine, it may save the trouble of pet owners taking their pets to a clinic.

US-based Elanco is a global leader in animal health. As an expert in animal pharmaceuticals, the company owns renowned brands such as Advocate, Advantix, Advantage, Seresto, Drontal and Credelio.

Seeing China's rising pet market and its burgeoning e-commerce sector, Elanco signed a strategic partnership in November with the pet business branch of JD, introducing more of its pet health solutions on JD's e-commerce platform.

Wang Demou, general manager of the pet health business unit of Elanco China, said: "The cooperation helps us realize fine-tuned marketing, reaching our target consumers precisely. In addition, we will focus on online pet diagnosis, veterinarian training and pet community marketing."

According to Elanco, it is rigorously innovating to bring about more high-quality products and services to improve the health of animals and benefit customers in China.

Pet food is another surging subcategory of China's pet consumption market. A recent report issued by market consultancy Deloitte showed that thanks to the increasing elderly and single populations, as well as pet consumers' rising purchasing willingness, China's pet food market will reach 114 billion yuan by 2026, with a compound annual growth rate of 17 percent and the post-80s and post-90s generations as the backbone of pet food consumption.

Wang Yi, a partner in charge of financial consulting in the consumer goods and retail industry at Deloitte China, said: "With the number of pet consumers surging and their demand for quality rising, the rigid demand for pet food has become increasingly prominent."

"With the rapid development, the competition is becoming increasingly fierce. In this context, how to capture consumer demand, establish effective channel cognition, differentiate products and improve the supply chain will become the core opportunities and challenges for enterprise development," she said.

Wang Peng, an associate professor at Renmin University of China, said: "The pet consumption market is a blue ocean. Enterprises should pay attention to the quality of the products and services they provide to ensure sustainable development. More refined laws and regulations in the field are also needed."

Ouyang Shijia contributed to this story.