"Smart" Tech Products for Pets Reach $400 Million in Sales, reports Packaged Facts

In U.S. market for durable dog and cat petcare products, pet parents want "smart" tech that offers convenience, helps with pet health and safety, and keeps them connected with their fur babies

News provided by

Packaged Facts

Oct 09, 2018, 08:47 ET

ROCKVILLE, Md., Oct. 9, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- There's little debate that the pet humanization trend and the rise of pet parenting have created new dynamics and growth opportunities in the U.S. pet industry. The devotion consumers feel toward their pets extends not just to the careful selection of foods and services, but also to the toys, beds, bowls, and other durable products they purchase. One of the hottest trends among these products is the incorporation of high-tech "smart" features and automation that creates a "connected" lifestyle between pet parents and their fur babies, according to market research firm Packaged Facts in the new report Durable Dog and Cat Petcare Products, 2nd Edition. The demand for high-tech options has spurred innovations across the entire product spectrum and as a result smart products are appearing in every pet durables category.

"Americans love their pets. And they love their devices. Pet tech products satisfy both affections by creating a closer bond between pet and owner, and by using technology to make petcare easier," says David Sprinkle, research director for Packaged Facts. "Make no mistake, pet tech is big business, and products that can connect pet owners with their pets, whether via Bluetooth, over WiFi, or using a home network, are in high demand."

Packaged Facts data show that tech-based "smart" durable petcare products accounted for 8% of the $5 billion durables market, with sales of $400 million for 2017. In the report, durable petcare products include toys; collars, leashes, and harnesses; beds; carriers, crates, and housing; bowls, feeders, and waterers; apparel and fashion accessories; and litter boxes and accessories.

"Smart" Pet Durable Products Part of Larger Retail Trend

The trend toward connected products is part of the much larger trend in the consumer packaged goods market, with U.S. consumers using the Internet to connect themselves to brands, companies, and other consumers, not to mention marketers increasing their market penetration via e-commerce sites and social media. Using technology to connect is already part of the daily lives of most pet owners, so it is only natural that they would turn to technology to help them connect with their pets.

"Smart" Pet Products Focus on Convenience and Wellness

Many technology-focused products work in tandem with smartphone or desktop apps that allow pet owners to interact with the products and their makers, and Packaged Facts expects such "smart products" to play a far greater and more multifaceted role in 2018 and beyond. A key benefit is convenience, with most smart products designed to make petcare easier. It's a potent appeal.

In proprietary surveys of U.S. pet owners conducted by Packaged Facts, "product will save time/make my life easier" is a top purchase motivator for automated products, including litter boxes, feeders, waterers, toys, training devices, and pet doors. Already, products designed to perform a service are well-established segments of categories formerly limited to manual items, from self-cleaning litter boxes to automated feeders to collars with Bluetooth monitoring capabilities, and it's expected that the category range will expand and the products to get smarter and smarter. Covering numerous bases is the new Wagz line of integrated smart pet solutions, all of which are controlled through a single smartphone app. At the heart of the Wagz system is a smart dog collar, which connects with a suite of products including a smart dog feeder, smart dog door, smart treat dispenser, and smart water dish.

Along with convenience, another important feature sought after in smart products, as with pet products in general, is enhanced pet health. Packaged Facts expects products that monitor a pet's activities, vital signs, body functions, location, and so on to become a norm among engaged pet owners, enabling them to detect health problems—and spurring them to take action—earlier on. Such products will increasingly interface with petcare services, with product makers, marketers, and service providers working together (or merging) to create new paradigms of pet monitoring. In-home and on-pet and/or on-pet-owner devices will connect to e-commerce operations representing both products and services, providing health alerts and petcare recommendations, and allowing pet owners to interface directly with veterinarians and other petcare service providers. In the CTA report noted above, 46% of pet tech users reported using an app or software based platform that delivers pet health data directly to their vet.

About the Report

Focusing on product innovation and consumer preferences, Durable Dog and Cat Petcare Products, 2nd Edition, breaks out this multibillion dollar market into seven categories. The completely updated Durable Dog and Cat Petcare Products, 2nd Edition report quantifies the market as a whole as well as category by category, calculating historical compound annual growth rates for 2012 vs. 2016 vs. 2017, and projected growth rates through 2022. Through custom surveying in Packaged Facts' own Surveys of Pet Owners, the study highlights consumer purchase patterns and product preferences in each category. Including dozens of product illustrations, it focuses particularly on trends in marketing and new product development, while also identifying key players in the market overall and at the category level. Additional data sources include Simmons data profiling trends in pet ownership and purchasing attitudes and product preferences, including demographic trends down to the category level.

View additional information about Durable Dog and Cat Petcare Products, 2nd Edition, including purchase options, the abstract, table of contents, and related reports at Packaged Facts' website: https://www.packagedfacts.com/Durable-Dog-Cat-Petcare-Products-Edition-11905708/.

About Packaged Facts

Packaged Facts, a division of MarketResearch.com, publishes market intelligence on a wide range of consumer market topics, including consumer demographics and shopper insights, consumer financial products and services, consumer goods and retailing, and pet products and services. Packaged Facts also offers a full range of custom research services. Reports can be purchased at our company website and are also available through MarketResearch.com.

For more essential insights from Packaged Facts be sure to follow us on Twitter and Google+. Please link any media references to our reports or data to https://www.packagedfacts.com/.

Press Contact:
Daniel Granderson
240.747.3000
[email protected]

SOURCE Packaged Facts