CRC’s Pet Insights Council provides pet market research reports about the pet retail industry, including specialty retailers like Petco, PetSmart, and Chewy.com. To add greater context to what we’re seeing in the channel, we track trends across pet retail shoppers and veterinarians by surveying key groups and vet clinics.
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Through our conversations with the most impactful pet category suppliers, retailers, brokers, and distributors, our team discovers and tracks pet industry trends across the channel. We combine these conversations with real-time data to craft detailed sales forecasts and retailer traffic updates. This feedback helps decision makers plan their businesses at the largest pet retailers and target accounts that are likely to outperform over the near and long-term. We also survey hundreds of pet parents semi-annually to add context to the trends we’re seeing across the retail industry. This highlights how customer preferences change and how these changes may impact your category.
With a CRC partnership, you’ll gain unlimited access to our pet industry research analysts. Whenever you have a question, we’ll provide real-time solutions founded on what we’re hearing in the channel.
Our pet market industry research includes sales forecasts, retail traffic trends, thematic reports, and consumer surveys. Customers have access to the Partner Portal, where you can download today’s updates or search the digital library.
We host three webinars each year to talk through the biggest trends impacting the pet category and what it means to retailers, shoppers, and the veterinarian. You’ll walk away with best practices for handling future pet retail business.
As a leading market research firm, we serve as your go-to pet industry expert. Whether you need a presentation for your internal team or next conference, we’re here to provide data-driven expertise.
Our pet market research covers the pet ecosystem – brick and mortar retail, pureplay retail, and vet clinics – providing a comprehensive pulse on industry themes impacting peers, answering your most pressing questions both tactical, real-time as well as strategic and longer-term in nature.
Feedback from our Pet Insights Council members indicate our insights can be leveraged across organizations and teams throughout the pet and animal health ecosystems.
Frequent webinars and monthly audio recaps of pet industry insights help c-suite, sales, insights, and members across organizations level set on industry trends to understand their competitive edge in the marketplace, identify opportunities for growth, and align resources to capitalize on that growth.
Channel research is the foundation of the product within the Pet Insights Council. Our conversations across the entire pet ecosystem – retailers, brands, shelters, vets, manufacturers, etc. – gives our work forward looking, actionable insight into veterinary industry trends and, best practices applicable throughout the pet industry.
With our long-term channel and retailer growth forecasts, teams are able to allocate investments and resources to with market share winning accounts. As teams look to their retailer strategies, they routinely engage our teams to align resources with opportunities. Build a game plan to match the industry’s expectations and agendas.
We continue to see pureplay eCommerce as the dominant growth outlet across pet retail categories, including consumables, hardgoods, and even pharmaceutical products. The convenience offered by Autoship programs as well as MAP adherence ensuring best prices offer strong value propositions for consumers to engage with eCommerce retailers for their pet purchases. Notably, Amazon and Chewy continue to make investments in their retail media offerings, Autoship promotions, and continue to add brands and products to their sites to broaden pet assortments.
To address consumer pullback across non-wellness visits, compliance pressures, and staffing costs, corporate groups are focused on cost reduction activities. Within our work, clinics are now managing physical inventory, leveraging RFPs and promotions, and driving marketing efforts. Increasingly top of mind for clinics and groups are home delivery platforms, wellness plan offerings and telehealth services to help pet parents with affordability solutions.
The humanization of pets we see as sticky, despite today’s macroeconomic concerns. Within our consumer work, we continue to see pet as the least cut back category when asking consumers if prices were to increase what areas of spend they would reduce. In fact, consumers tell us they are willing to cut back in other areas so that they do not have to cut back on their pet purchases. Broadly speaking, pet shoppers within our work are choosing the highest quality pet products when shopping, even above other considerations like price or promotion.
There are a few key considerations when entering into the pet category, the first being identifying your consumer to develop a channel strategy. Backed with a channel strategy, brands can then allocate marketing funds and execute on retailer partnerships in order to best address their identified pet shopper where they are shopping. Imperative in the process is developing an omnichannel presence with educational tools to differentiate your product or brand from the competition.
Premiumization keeps showing up in our data, and pet parents keep choosing higher-quality food, treats, and supplements even when budgets tighten elsewhere. We’re also watching retail media investment grow across Amazon, Chewy, and specialty retailers, plus a steady shift toward subscription and Autoship purchasing. Retailers who plan around these pet industry trends now will have an easier time adjusting shelf space and marketing budgets later.
Vet clinics shape a majority of what happens at retail for animal health related products and brands. Visit trajectory shapes demand at retailers, home delivery platforms, and other alternative channels across prescription medications, food, and products. This work coupled with our pet retail research provides a holistic market view for brands dependent on that veterinary recommendation and consumer channel decision to drive growth so brands that sell through can see where these influences are growing and plan marketing budgets accordingly.
Clinics are leaning hard into efficiency: think RFPs on pharmaceuticals and supplies, continued tight inventory management, marketing spend aimed at driving visits, and a renewed focus on efficiency through AI utilization. Our work suggests home delivery being utilized as a moat against alternative channels, with growth of these offerings increasing throughout the year. We track these veterinary industry trends alongside consumer sentiment, so you can see both what clinics are doing and how pet parents are responding.
How can your business prepare for consumer shifts in the pet channel and navigate changes in demand? Click to request a sample report and connect with our Pet Insights team.
