More than one third of those pet owners increased their purchasing during the pandemic, with 35% reporting that they spent more on their pets in the past 12 months than the preceding year.
Pet ownership increased in the U.S. during the ongoing pandemic, and the recently released 2021-2021 American Pet Products Association (APPA) National Pet Owners Survey put numbers on that growth. APPA analysts estimated that U.S. pet ownership rose 3%, from 67% in the last survey to 70%.
According to the biennial APPA report, 14% of total respondents, both pet owners and non-pet owners, got a new pet during the pandemic. Many of those decisions were influenced by the pandemic. By animal, COVID-19 influenced people to obtain new saltwater fish (60%), dogs (47%), birds (46%), small animals (46%), cats (40%), freshwater fish (34%), reptiles (27%) and horses (27%).
Considering both new and established pet owners, 32% of Millennials share their homes with a companion animal, followed by Boomers at 27% and Gen X at 24%.
More than one third of those pet owners increased their purchasing during the pandemic, with 35% reporting that they spent more on their pets in the past 12 months than the preceding year. Online shopping accounted for more of that spending too. Survey respondents reported increasing online pet product shopping from 72% in the prior year to 86% of responses in this year’s study. Likewise, brick-and-mortar retail pet product shopping decreased to 41% from 60% pre-pandemic-
More info at: https://www.petfoodindustry.com/articles/10407-pandemic-influenced-47-of-new-dog-acquisitions-in-us