J.M. Smucker cat food leads pet food manufacturer competitors in YOY gains with 72% growth, while Stella & Chewy’s dog food follows with 62% YOY increase in spending.
Key Takeaways
Since March and the COVID-19 pandemic, as people purchased everything they could out of fear that shelves and supply lines would soon be overwhelmed, there was another swell in COVID-19 driven purchasing: pets. Pet adoptions have been on the rise since the start of the pandemic, as people find themselves lonely and bored in their homes. To find out how pet food sales have been impacted by COVID-19 and increased pet adoptions in 2020, Edison Trends studied over 180,000 transactions from DTC pet retailers, grocery retailers, and pet retailers.
Pet Food Manufacturer Brands
The following analysis includes online sales across pet food manufacturers based on their owned pet food brands. Blue Buffalo Company includes Blue Buffalo. Colgate-Palmolive Company includes Hills Pet Nutrition. Diamond Pet Foods, Inc. includes Diamond and Taste of the Wild. Mars Petcare includes IAMS, Nutro, Pedigree, Royal Canin, Cesar, and Whiskas. Nestlé includes Merrick and Purina. Stella & Chewy’s includes Stella & Chewy’s. The J.M. Smucker Company includes 9Lives, Gravy Train®, Kibbles ‘n Bits®, Meow Mix®, Milk-Bone®, Natural Balance®, Nature’s Recipe® and Rachael Ray™ Nutrish. WellPet includes Wellness Pet Food.
How has online spend on pet food changed year-over-year?
Figure 1a: Chart shows estimated year-over-year change in online spend on cat food by manufacturer, from July 2019 to July 2020, according to Edison Trends. This analysis is based on over 29,000 transactions. Merchants in the analysis include PetSmart, Petco, Pet Supplies Plus, Chewy, PetFlow, Allivet, Coupaw, Budget Pet care, and 40 grocery vendors such as Instacart, Walmart, and Kroger.
Figure 1b: Chart shows estimated year-over-year change in online spend on dog food by manufacturer, from July 2019 to July 2020, according to Edison Trends. This analysis is based on over 29,000 transactions. Merchants in the analysis include PetSmart, Petco, Pet Supplies Plus, Chewy, PetFlow, Allivet, Coupaw, Budget Pet care, and 40 grocery vendors such as Instacart, Walmart, and Kroger.
J.M. Smucker has made the biggest YOY gains when it comes to online customer spending on cat food, growing 72% between July 2019 and July 2020. The next-strongest growth, with 60% each, was observed for Nestle and Diamond Pet Foods. When it comes to dog food, Stella & Chewy’s saw the biggest increase in spending, with 62% more than in July 2019. They were followed by Nestle with 59% and Colgate-Palmolive with 55%. Taken in total, the year-over-year change for all brands (across both cat and dog food) examined, purchased at all online merchants examined, was 43%.
How does monthly online spend on pet food compare across manufacturers?
Figure 2: Chart shows estimated monthly online pet food spend by manufacturer, from August 1, 2019 - July 31, 2020, according to Edison Trends. Note: The highest customer spend value per month/manufacturer has been set to 100, and all other values have been scaled appropriately. This analysis is based on over 180,000 transactions. Merchants in the analysis include PetSmart, Petco, Pet Supplies Plus, Chewy, PetFlow, Allivet, Coupaw, Budget Pet care, and 40 grocery vendors such as Instacart, Walmart, and Kroger.
All manufacturers in this study saw an increase in online spending from February into March, with the average increase being 47%. Diamond Pet Foods, at 64% had the biggest jump. Spending on all manufacturers then declined from March into June, averaging a drop of 23%, and rose from June into July. WellPet had the biggest increase going into July, rising 24%.
To learn more about the data behind this article and what Edison Trends has to offer, visit https://trends.edison.tech/.
Sign up to receive our stories in your inbox.
Data is changing the speed of business. Investors, Corporations, and Governments are buying new, differentiated data to gain visibility make better decisions. Don't fall behind. Let us help.
Sign up to receive our stories in your inbox.
Data is changing the speed of business. Investors, Corporations, and Governments are buying new, differentiated data to gain visibility make better decisions. Don't fall behind. Let us help.
