A new survey report, Future of the Pet Industry 2015, from Pet Product News, shows optimism among retailers is high, with most pet product retailers anticipating healthy sales growth in the next year, with premium pet food expected to be a high-growth area.

One in four stores anticipate sales being more than 10% higher in 2015 than in 2014, and 90% of stores expect sales to be the same as or better than last year.

The survey findings include:

• Retailers expect the two biggest areas of growth over the next five years to be premium pet food and grooming and other services. Fifty-two percent of retailers anticipate selling more premium/custom food in the next five years.
• 53% of retailers said food was their biggest-selling dog product.
• 49% said food was their biggest-selling cat product.
• 24% of stores now sell live animals compared with more than 40% five years ago.
• More than half of all pet stores are now either owned or managed by a woman. And that proportion is growing because new businesses are even more likely to have a female in charge.
• 57% of pet retailers sponsor or support rescue and shelter organizations and 24% host in-store adoption events.