Pet owners, like many consumers, are increasingly concerned about sustainability in the products and brands they purchase. Recent surveys indicate the current level of concern in various countries.
In a global consumer lifestyle survey conducted earlier this year by Euromonitor International, 65% of pet owners said they were concerned about climate change and were generally more likely than non-pet owners to pet to pursue “green” activities. The results of the survey, presented by Ekaterina Tretyakova, Euromonitor market research consultant, during Interzoo 2024, also showed that more pet owners in emerging markets are trying to have a positive impact on the environment: 80% of Indians own pets, followed by 74% in China and the UAE, and 72% in Brazil.
Interestingly, a lower percentage of pet owners in developed pet food markets responded to that root, including 50% in Belgium and Sweden, and 32% in Japan.
How pet owners demonstrate a focus on sustainability
In terms of differences between pet owners and non-pet owners following more sustainable practices, 52% of pet owners are reducing their use of plastics , compared to about 48% of no. Others include recycling items, 50% versus 46%; using sustainable packaging, 40% vs. 36%; buying sustainably produced items, 29% versus 25%; and reducing meat consumption, 27% compared to 23%.
The survey also examined the types of packaging respondents consider sustainable, including recyclable (named by 51%), biodegradable (48%), refillable/reusable (39%), paper (36%), made with recycled content (35%), compostable (34%) and bio based/plant based (31%).
Another survey, conducted among 945 pet owners in Canada, France, the UK and the US, looked at sustainable pet food packaging. Conducted by Yummypets, an online community for pet lovers, and Pets International magazine, 55% of respondents said they actively look for sustainable packaging (although only 11% said they always do), and 46% reported purchasing sustainable or recyclable pet food packaging.
There is a fairly wide variation among pet owners from country to country; 17% of UK respondents always look for sustainable packaging, with 57% at least sometimes buying sustainable or recyclable packaging. In comparison, only 35% in the US reported such purchasing habits, and 29% of respondents in France said they never look for sustainable packaging.
Trust and pay more for maintenance claims
In the Yummypets survey, 27% of pet owners said they consider maintenance very important, 38% found it very important and only 5% considered it unimportant. By country, 35% of respondents in the US rated sustainability as very important compared to 30% in the UK; in Canada, 47% consider it very important, while only 18% of French pet owners do so.
Specifically for pet food, 51% of these pet owners said that being an environmentally responsible company is important or very important. At the same time, 65% reported being skeptical of pet food companies’ sustainability claims. In a similar Yummypets survey from 2022, that number was only 41.7%.
Pet owners worldwide surveyed by Euromonitor seem more trusting, with 61% saying they trust “recyclable” claims, 57% “locally sourced” and 54% “environmentally friendly” .” Although similar percentages — 57% and 55%, respectively — report trusting “organic” and “natural” claims, 14% of these respondents believe that the such claims are reasons for companies to charge more. That is worth noting because the price of more sustainable products certainly plays a role in the purchasing behavior of these pet owners. Median prices of pet foods with sustainable claims will climb about 22% in 2023, according to Euromonitor, after a 19.5% increase in 2022 and 17% in 2021.
So, not surprisingly, only 12% to 16% said they would be willing to pay more for pet food labeled as environmentally friendly, sustainably raised or produced, locally sourced or manufactured, or fair trade. And, although UK and US pet owners in the Yummypets survey appeared more likely to consider sustainability important, similarly low numbers — 11% and 13%, respectively — said they are willing to pay more for it.
In these inflationary times, asking pet owners to pay a premium for maintenance may be a bridge too far for most of them.