In recent years, the number of pets in my country has continued to grow, the pet market has developed rapidly, and the "pet economy" has continued to heat up. According to the "White Paper on China's Pet Industry in 2023-2024 (Consumer Report)", the scale of urban pet consumption market will be 279.3 billion yuan in 2023, and it is expected to reach 361.3 billion yuan in 2026.
Against the background of the continuous upgrading of new technologies and new applications, smart pet equipment has attracted much attention in recent years. Timed water feeders, feeders, smart cat toilets, etc. are favored by consumers, and a variety of products meet the demands of pet owners for smart and convenient pet care. According to data released by relevant consulting agencies, the market size of pet products is expected to be 44.34 billion yuan in 2024, and will reach 48.4 billion yuan by 2025.
From August 21 to 25, the 26th Asian Pet Show was held in Shanghai. According to official data, this exhibition attracted 124,000 professional visitors, 386,000 pet lovers, and overseas visitors from 91 countries and regions around the world, accounting for about 10% of the total number of visitors, reaching the highest level in history, an increase of 41.8% over last year.
In recent years, with the rapid development of the domestic pet industry and the change in consumption concepts and pet-raising methods, the "pet economy" is showing great development potential.
"Pet economy" is extremely popular
During the exhibition, the Shanghai New International Expo Center was transformed into a "Cute Pet Carnival", from pet food, supplies to medical nutrition, pet beauty, etc., almost every exhibition area was crowded. On social media, many "poop shovelers" also posted and checked in, and discussed, pushing the popularity of topics related to the Asia Pet Show.
As a weathervane of China's pet industry, the scale of this year's Asia Pet Show has been upgraded and reached a new high, covering 17+7 halls + 1 outdoor area, with an area of more than 300,000 square meters, covering the entire upstream and downstream industry chain of pets. At the same time, 67 conferences and activities such as the 2024 Asian Pet Food Summit, the Asian Pet Medical Conference, and the first Asian Small Pet Ecological Forum, and 56 consumer activities were held. It is worth mentioning that major shopping malls have linked exhibitions to explore new "pet +" consumption scenarios, and brought pet exhibition exclusive welfare coupons through AI check-in maps. The linkage of business exhibitions has further activated pet consumption.
Small pet category "strange" army emerges
Reptiles, birds, rabbits, sugar gliders... There are many small pets at this year's Asia Pet Show, and the booths cover pet breeding, live trading, nutrition research and development, bedding sales, etc. It is dazzling.
On August 22, the first Asian Small Pet Ecological Forum was held in Shanghai. According to the "2024 China Small Pet Consumer Insight Report" released by Asia Pet Research Institute and Taotian Pet, in recent years, the market size of small pets and exotic pets has maintained a sustained growth trend. This high growth performance has gradually enriched the market types and continuously brought new opportunities and vitality to the industry.
According to the report, in terms of the popularity of small pets, rodents are the first choice for consumers to raise, accounting for 56% of the total population. Among them, hamsters, chinchillas, and guinea pigs are more popular breeding species. In terms of bird pets, although their breeding proportion is not as high as rodents, they rely on rapid growth to reach 27%.
Among them, parrots account for 70% of bird breeding, and the breeding popularity of rudin chickens exceeds that of Call ducks and becomes a new favorite. Rabbits and other mammals account for 16%, among which sugar gliders are popular, and hedgehogs and other small pets are also gradually attracting attention.
Refining becomes a new trend
At this year's Asia Pet Show, we saw that in addition to daily food and supplies for pets, pet health products, smart pet equipment and other products are also becoming more and more popular with consumers. In addition, many emerging industries such as pet funeral, insurance, and training have also quietly emerged.
To seize new consumption opportunities, this year, Asia Pet paid attention to the special needs of human-pet friendship and pet aging, and specially created the Asia Pet Human-Pet Life Hall and Asia Pet Health Care Zone, which brought together pet-friendly brands such as Dyson, Atour, and Huajiantang to present an ideal space for human-pet coexistence; in addition, the products and services of human pet health industry brands such as "JD Health", "Guan Neng", and "Healing Pet Medical Rehabilitation Center" have also made new explorations to create a quality life for pet care.
From "pet-friendly" to "human-pet-friendly", under the new pet-raising concept, the consumption level is differentiated, and the requirements for pet brands are more diversified and quality-oriented. Refined pet raising is becoming a new trend in pet consumption.
As the pet industry gradually matures, pet consumption types are constantly subdivided and developing rapidly, and the "pet economy" shows great development potential. Taking platform data as an example, on the Kuaishou e-commerce platform, the total transaction volume of pet industry commodities has increased by more than 35% year-on-year in the past six months, and dog food, cat food, pet snacks and other commodities are most popular among consumers. Data from Taobao shows that during this year's "618", all categories of pet consumption have seen comprehensive growth, among which the transaction volume of "baked cat and dog food" increased by more than 100% year-on-year, "cat pet raincoat" increased by 166% year-on-year, and "cat and dog hair accessories" increased by 214% year-on-year.
In addition to the daily "eating, dressing and traveling" of pets, pet health products, smart pet equipment and other products are also becoming more and more popular with consumers. During this year's "618", the transaction volume of pet fish oil on Taobao increased by 125% year-on-year, the transaction volume of pet smart drying boxes increased by 408% year-on-year, and the transaction volume of pet smart deodorizers increased by 335% year-on-year.
The "2023-2024 China Pet Industry White Paper (Consumption Report)" shows that in 2023, the scale of my country's urban pet consumption market has reached 279.3 billion yuan, and it is expected to jump to 361.3 billion yuan by 2026.
In the view of Fu Yifu, a senior researcher at Xingtu Financial Research Institute, multiple factors such as my country's economic and social development, changes in population structure, upgrading of consumption concepts, and rapid growth of e-commerce have promoted the rise of the "pet economy". At the same time, pet owners' emotional needs for pets have gradually increased, and the standards for raising pets have also continued to improve, and their pursuit of food, clothing and daily necessities has become more scientific and refined.
Data shows that since 2014, the number of registered companies related to my country's "pet economy" has increased year by year; as of early August, 945,000 new pet industry-related companies have been registered in China this year. On a certain online shopping platform, from January to June this year, about 25,000 new pet stores were added to the platform, and the order volume increased by 77% year-on-year. "Pet-friendly" services have attracted the attention of pet lovers.
Faced with the vast market space of the "pet economy", many places have also increased their support and cultivated regional industrial advantages. Fu Yifu believes that many parties are accelerating their layout in the pet industry and promoting the extension of the "pet economy" industry chain. With the continuous deepening of technological innovation and the continuous upgrading of consumer demand, the development space of the "pet economy" will be further released. However, under the rapid development, the industry chaos such as the mixed quality of enterprises and the uneven quality of products and services also need further attention. In the future, it is necessary to strengthen the supervision capacity of the pet industry and create a good environment for the healthy and sustainable development of the industry.
