U.S. retail sales of pet food rose 16% in 2020, 14% in 2021 and 12% in 2022. For a mature category approaching US$60 billion in annual sales, three years of growth in the double digits might seem to be cause for celebration, but the numbers are deceiving. During 2022, almost all the dollar growth stemmed from price inflation, with the pet food consumer price index increasing 10% year over year, compared with virtually no increase in 2020 and a less than 1% increase in 2021. Pet food sales growth is dancing to the beat of price inflation, even if the usual duet of pet humanization and pet product premiumization continue as a potent force.
With prices of basic human food staples like eggs and butter doubling and tripling, shoppers have been cutting back even in the pet market’s least discretionary category, pet food. In Packaged Facts’ November 2022 Survey of Pet Owners, 12% of dog or cat owners were reducing their pet food spending due to inflation, compared with 20% for pet toys as a highly discretionary category. Even so, over half (54%) of pet owners reported spending more on pet food in Packaged Facts’ February 2023 Survey of Pet Owners, up from 41% in the January 2022 survey and from 29% in the February 2021 survey.
