Pet food manufacturers across Europe are increasingly looking toward smaller pack sizes and streamlined product portfolios as sustained consumer price sensitivity reshapes purchasing patterns. While downsizing and SKU rationalization are helping companies defend volumes and maintain accessible shelf prices, the trend remains rather even across the region.
A shift toward smaller packaging sizes — a trend sometimes described as shrinkflation — is common in the European consumer goods market in recent years. A 2025 YouGov survey found that 80% of U.K. adults are "very" or "fairly" concerned about shrinkflation, up from 75% in 2023. Strictly speaking, shrinkflation is a phenomenon in which brands quietly shrink products without lowering prices, and it is only part of a bigger tendency toward downsizing packaging.
SKU optimization has gained particular relevance in the pet care market in recent years, commented Petar Reshovski, general manager, Williams & Marshall Strategy.
"SKU rationalization can represent a significant lever for both manufacturers and retailers," said Reshovski. "Potential benefits include margin improvement, streamlined supply chains, and more efficient portfolio management."
Further evidence appears in a case study by Revology Analytics involving an international pet food and pet products client, Reshovski said. In addition to revising pricing strategy, the engagement included an extensive SKU rationalization process. The outcome was a recommendation to discontinue more than 1,000 underperforming SKUs.
In April 2025, industry experts indicated continued growth in demand for single-serve products within the pet food packaging market, Reshovski noted.
"Across Europe, positive momentum was recorded for packages below 50g, single-serve formats, and 85g cans," Reshovski said. "While affordability plays a role, smaller packages are not preferred solely for cost reasons; they are also perceived by some consumers as offering greater freshness compared to bulk formats."
A win-win solution
Switching to smaller packaging sizes can offer certain benefits to consumers, retailers and companies.
"One strategic response for branded pet food producers involves stronger marketing emphasis on single-serve and smaller packaging formats as an alternative to bulk products," Reshovski said.
By selecting smaller quantities, Reshovski explained, pet owners could ensure their animals get fresher, and possibly healthier, nutrition. At the same time, single-serve formats can appeal to time-constrained consumers seeking practical solutions that allow for greater variety in the diets of their pets. Smaller pack sizes therefore combine convenience with perceived affordability and flexibility.
From a commercial standpoint, positioning single-serve formats as premium and health-oriented options may help mitigate margin pressure, Reshovski noted. "If executed effectively, this approach can support a higher price per unit, which may offset the additional costs associated with smaller sizes."
"A comparable strategy could enable certain producers to reposition themselves toward the higher end of the market," Reshovski said. "For consumers, this may translate into a broader range of convenience-focused pet food offerings that address time limitations and nutritional considerations, albeit at a higher price point."
Eastern countries show different patterns
SKU rationalization and shrinkflation appear to be less pronounced beyond the eastern EU border, according to Yulia Dolzhenkova, business development director, Zooinform, a Moscow-based pet business media company.
In the broader FMCG food market, shrinkflation is clearly visible: NTech's 2025 tracking shows the average pack weight continuing to decline year over year, with the trend strengthening again in 2025 after easing across 2023–2024, Dolzhenkova said.
However, when it comes to pet food, the picture in regional markets is different and often driven by value and channel mechanics rather than systematic downsizing.
For example, in Russia, the more consistent pattern in pet food is not a mass shift toward smaller packs, but rather the growing relevance of larger formats and "value per kg" logic, especially online, Dolzhenkova said.
Zooinform's 2025 data on wet cat food illustrates this well: small formats such as pouches and cans up to 190 g still dominate the category, accounting for 93.1% of sales value, but the most dynamic growth is happening in larger packs. In e-commerce, close to half of wet cat food sales already comes from packs above 600 g, reflecting stock-up behavior and a clear consumer preference for better unit economics.
"This is why I would be cautious about labeling shrinkflation as a key pet food trend in Russia based on pack-size change alone," Dolzhenkova said. "Pet food purchasing decisions are often established and are habitual, so 'trial' formats are less critical than in human food, and the category still has an important 'sold-by-weight' practice in specialty retail."
In Belarus, the trend is even less visible. According to Zooinform, Belarus also has a regulatory constraint that limits markups for this product group, regardless of pack size. As a result, this pack-format shift is not described as a driver of price architecture or assortment inflation in the way it might be in less regulated markets.
"In Kazakhstan, the expert feedback is very straightforward: there is currently no strong trend toward smaller packs," Dolzhenkova said. "Demand is stronger for bulk formats and 'by-weight' sales. Online consumers tend to choose large bags because they consider them more cost-efficient.
"Overall, while shrinkflation is a real phenomenon in food retail, pet food in these markets is better explained through value perception, channel shifts, especially e-commerce, and the practical economics of packaging changes," Dolzhenkova said.
