Xiaomi, the world's third largest smartphone manufacturer and fastest growing Chinese technology company, has entered the pet food industry space—deliberately or not, by developing digital products designed to feed pets the smart way.
It's been done before, but the Chinese technology titan brings with it millions of its mobile users, and their pets, if any, in one platform that might just energize this nascent pet food related space.
The company has been lately rolling out in phases its newest digital pet feeder in key Asia-Pacific pet markets like Australia, Malaysia and the Philippines and in e-commerce sites operating across the region. There are an estimated 300 million pet dogs and cats in Asia Pacific, each a potential user of the Xiaomi Smart Pet Feeder. It is designed to be the pet feeding station of both cats and small-to-medium dogs as it can handle kibbles from 5 mm to 12 mm in diameter. It can hold about two kilos of dry pet food.
The Xiaomi Smart Pet Feeder automatically dispenses kibble following a preset time and quantity. It is paired with Mi Home, a Xiaomi Home app, so pet owners can control it anywhere they may be. It saves feeding schedule information and has built-in emergency power supply so it can do its job even without power or Internet connection.
With over 500 million monthly active users of its mobile operating system, Xiaomi thinks the young, mobile pet owners among them might readily take to its high-tech pet feeder and use it to extend their digital lifestyles to their respective pets at home. It also helps that Asia-Pacific is home to over 300 million pets, has a very high technology penetration rate among its population and has the largest number of Internet users globally.
Forrester Research said the Philippines, Vietnam and India are expected to lead the acquisition of tech goods and services this year and the next.
The Xiaomi smart pet feeder sells for more or less than $100 across different markets. It can be paired with the Xiaomi Smart Pet Fountain that provides pet with clean, circulating filtered water all the time.
According to research firm Fact.MR, the global automatic pet feeder market is valued at $540.8 million in 2022 and is predicted to expand at a high CAGR of 9.6% to reach $1.36 billion in 10 years.
