The growing pet furniture market reflects a broader trend of humanizing pets, especially among those delaying or forgoing children
There is a growing movement toward treating pets as family, especially as people who delay or forgo having children choose to lavish attention on their fur babies instead. For some, that means providing their pets with precisely the same stylish comfort as the rest of the family enjoys.
Whereas traditional cat beds are essentially cushions with sides, cat sofas closely resemble human furniture — albeit at a much smaller size. While there’s no scientific evidence to suggest that cats prefer this shape, owners have a different take.
TikTok and Instagram are awash with videos from cat parents showing off their new furniture purchases. Meanwhile, cat sofas featuring hand-stitched upholstery and orthopedic cushions are benefiting from consumer spending habits shaped by recent retail industry shifts, selling for as much as $2,000. They make up a significant proportion of the total pet furniture market, which is expected to hit $5.13 billion by 2027.
Growing demand for smaller breeds and “designer dogs” which are often chosen for their aesthetics rather than their trainability
Pet owners are increasingly treating their pets – and their monthly spend on them – the way they would a child
And as pet spending grew 2.5X over the past 2 decades, owners are increasingly investing in everything from specialized food to mental enrichment products for their pets.
While in decades past, owners may have given all their pets the same food, many pet owners now customize diets based on breed, health condition, or pet preferences, reflecting broader trends in nutrition and personalized diets.
The surge in emotional support animals has led to online services which expedite certifications, potentially circumventing traditional, rigorous mental health evaluations
Now rising in popularity with increased consumer focus on mental health and wellbeing, ESA letters (emotional support animal letters) were traditionally written by licensed mental health professionals in person. These letters protect patients' rights to have a pet in their home, free of charge, under the powerful federal Americans with Disabilities Act, and can even extend to plane travel.
As a rise in online discussion and searches for ESA letters drives anxious consumers to sites like Pettable, more businesses are popping up offering the letters after a short survey and consultation.
In what’s become a fascinating dynamic, the regulations around these companies often lead to outsourcing certifications, much like in other industries. For example, to sell security alarms within the US, companies must get licensed as an alarm provider in all the states where they plan to sell products. The process requires that companies have a certified security alarm professional, essentially an individual with a specific number of years of experience and certifications from a variety of tests.
As newer and smaller companies entered the industry without naturally having those certified team members, they realized they could outsource this qualification. Consequently, there exist individuals who take tests, maintain their status, and rent out their qualification as a service, essentially letting companies use their name for $800-$1500/mo depending on the state.
As with the security industry, we may see a rise in outsourced qualifications to meet new legal requirements for ESA letters, as demand grows.
Cat owners are increasingly strapping cameras to their cats, as the cost and weight of high-quality cameras declines
The development arms race of new electric vehicles, phones, and drones is pushing down the price of batteries and cameras. One unexpected side-effect is an increase in the number of devices that are equipped with cameras, including cat collars.
Outside cats tend to be very independent, roaming the neighborhood and interacting with other cats. Until recently, owners were never privy to this activity. But thanks to the shrinking size and cost of video cameras, it’s now possible to record an entire day in the life of a pet.
Many owners simply enjoy watching the footage themselves. Others share highlights online for other cat lovers to see. Some of these videos generate upwards of 25 million views, and the dedicated CatPOV community on reddit has roughly 30,000 members.
We’re likely to see more creative video trends like this emerge alongside rising , as more devices become equipped with high-quality cameras.
Small businesses leverage dog-friendly treats to increase daily foot traffic from dog walkers
There’s an ongoing battle between coffee chains over dog walking routes.
Two-thirds of American households own dogs and take them on daily walks. Most times, owners take the same route day after day so a shop that’s on the route, and gets passed every single day, is far more likely to win the dog walker’s business.
To coffee chains, the math is simple: If they can spend a practically negligible bit to grow nearly-guaranteed daily foot traffic, they’ll take it. So in 2015, Starbucks launched the Pup Cup – a small cup of whipped cream. Dogs tend to love it and many owners cite it as one of the top reasons they haven’t changed their routes over time.
It’s not the first time dog marketing has gotten creative: In what is one of history’s most creative marketing stunts, Pedigree – a dog food brand with over $1B in sales – applied stickers of dog food in bowls to city sidewalks and sprayed the stickers with dog food scents. When dogs ran to the stickers and continuously licked them, owners saw exactly what food the dog wanted. Pedigree also strategically placed the stickers in front of pet stores and supermarkets so that owners had this in mind during their purchase decision.
Similarly, many small business marketing guides recommend leaving a bowl of water outside so that dogs stop and owners glance inside the store.
It’s comparable to chain restaurants at rest stops along the interstate highway system. Drivers stop to refill their gas and notice the food chains along the way.
It’s also similar to how some retail storefronts place sugary cereals, or colorful toys, on the bottom shelf, knowing that it’ll attract kids with a parent in tow. The products for adults are then placed at the adults’ eye level. The stores use kids as a hook to target the spender, knowing they come in pairs just like the dog and its owner.
Professional dog walkers increasingly use private rental spaces like Sniffspot to walk dogs in congested urban areas
Sniffspot, essentially Airbnb for private dog parks, surprisingly isn’t quite focused on consumers. Instead, it targets professional dog walkers.
With Sniffspot, home owners can rent out their backyards and professional dog walkers pay per dog per hour. Even when dog walkers take a single dog for a walk, Sniffspot guarantees they’ll have the whole space to themselves.
This is increasingly important because, as dog ownership has grown, more and more dogs are not well-trained.
First, there’s been a trend toward smaller breeds and “designer dogs” which are often chosen for their aesthetics rather than their trainability and some of these breeds are more difficult to train.
Training methods, too, have evolved. Traditional techniques often rely on punishment, while many modern trainers prefer positive reinforcement. These newer methods can take longer to yield results and many owners simply give up.
Automatic pet care devices like self-cleaning litter boxes gain popularity as time-strapped pet owners prioritize convenience
For people working demanding jobs in expensive cities, the space and time investment in having kids is prohibitive. Pet ownership is the obvious replacement, but most animals still require plenty of TLC. Recognizing this dilemma, brands are now creating premium products that make petcare less demanding.
Modern pet owners generally have disposable income. Millennials, who represent the largest share of pet ownership, have an average household budget of about $85,000 per year. Annual pet-related spending is about $75 billion in the U.S. alone.
However, pet owners are increasingly pushed for time and swayed by convenience. Subscription services for pet food and accessories have benefited significantly, mirroring wider growth in eCommerce and subscription models, with an expected CAGR of 13.5% over the next ten years.
Rising interest in automated products further proves the point. For cat owners, scooping up mess is an unwanted chore. Automatic litter boxes are designed to clean themselves and control odor for weeks, without any manual intervention. Sales of these devices currently generate over half a billion dollars in annual global revenue.
