“In a dynamic economic environment where pet owner expectations are rising and budgets remain under scrutiny, private label is no longer just keeping pace. It is setting the standard.”
So wrote Colton Clason, marketing strategy, ADM’s B2B pet nutrition team, in the company’s 2026 Private Label Pet Market Report. In fact, private label pet care unit sales rose 5.4% in 2025, “signaling sustained repeat purchasing,” according to the report. The pet care category now represents 18.1% of total private label unit sales.
Those total private label dollar sales increased 3.3% in 2025, outpacing growth of national brand sales at just 1.2%.
Quality and affordability must coexist
What Clason meant by “setting the standard” can be inferred from ADM’s 2025 Outside Voice Global Lifestyle Survey, showing results such as “good nutrition with nothing bad for my pets,” named by 67% of global dog and cat owners, and “well made with high-quality ingredients,” cited by 62%.
Of course, these are features that most premium pet food brands provide and have for some time. The difference is the cost or perceived value to pet owners and its rising importance during ongoing economic uncertainty. “Quality and affordability are no longer opposing forces,” Clason wrote. “They are expectations that must coexist.”
According to ADM’s 2025 survey, owners’ primary health concerns for their pets include digestive health, longevity, immune health, joint/bone health and dental health. More and more, they’re looking to their pets’ food to provide those benefits, and ideally in an affordable way. ADM’s private label report calls this “value-forward premiumization”: consumers expecting elevated nutrition, carefully selected ingredients and quality packaging at an accessible cost. “The definition of ‘premium’ is evolving, shifting away from exclusivity and toward accessibility,” the report stated.
True, many name pet food brands are also figuring out how to offer premium attributes and ingredients at more affordable prices — and brand loyalty does still count for something (albeit not as much among younger consumers) — but another feature increasingly prized by consumers is convenience. And what could be more convenient than being able to drop your dog or cat’s food into the shopping cart along with your own groceries, without sacrificing the quality of Fido or Fluffy’s diet?
Not just pet food: Treats and supplements growing even more
This rising pet owner embrace of private label extends to pet treats and supplements. Private label pet treat unit sales increased 67% from 2024 to 2025, per the ADM report, which characterized the jump as “reflecting strong consumer interest in fun and indulgent products at accessible price points.”
Similarly, pet supplement unit sales grew 39% year over year, in keeping with pet owners’ increasing focus on health and wellness, plus pet longevity, paired with their simultaneously rising trust in private label health and wellness offerings.
Clason and ADM suggestd these trends offer a clear opportunity for ongoing private label expansion. “With national brands growing more slowly as consumers actively reassess value, pet care stands out as a category where retailers can capture incremental share and reinforce premium quality perceptions without premium pricing,” the report said.
