SOUTH AFRICA – South Africa’s leading and fast-growing retailer, Shoprite, has opened its first pet store in the country, next to the newly revamped Checkers outlet in the Cape Town suburb of Brackenfell.
The speciality store known as Petshop Science, is aimed to tap the growing consumer segment with Flux Trends indicating that South Africans spend between R300 million and R600 million on pet food per year.
Being its inaugural pet store, Shoprite has indicated it will offer details on potential expansion in the future, reports Fin24.
Pet care market to grow 7% by 2026
The global pet care market is expected to continue to benefit from a sales boom that spiked during the pandemic, as more home owners globally adopted pets for companionship during the difficult and uncertain times, indicates Euromonitor.
The influx of pet owners resulted in an explosion of demand for pet products with pet care sales soaring by 8.7% in 2020.
Pet food, accessories, beauty and grooming categories benefited the most from the pandemic with growth of 8.1%, 10.3% and 11.3%, respectively.
According to global market research company Euromonitor International, the industry is projected to record a 7% growth by 2026.
As pet humanization took hold, quality ingredients also became of utmost importance.
Manufacturers, in response, devoted their resources for the development of high protein and low carbohydrate diets. Some of the products were even specially formulated to clean teeth while being consumed.
The premiumisation trend is seeing owners spending more money per pet.
Australasia spent the most on food per dog and cat in 2020 (around USD 275), followed by North America (USD 211) and Western Europe (USD 182).
With remote work policies spreading beyond 2021, it’s expected that more people will adopt pets as time spent at home will enhance humanisation.
According to a recent Lifestyles Survey by Euromonitor, nearly 71% of global respondents from said they view their pets as ‘beloved members of the family’ in 2021.
The increased demand for pet care products has also led to a surge in investments into the sector.
In December 2020, Nestlé Purina PetCare announced that it will invest USD 550 million to expand its pet food manufacturing facility in Hartwell, Georgia, creating up to 130 jobs.
The expansion was announced just one year after the factory’s grand opening in November 2019.
Investment in pet care has also been a critical driver to Nestlé’s sales with the product being the by, the largest contributor to growth by product category in the company’s 2020 full year results.