Just last month, Nestle acquired the pet foods business of Purina Petcare India. Emami recently announced its decision to invest in a pet care start-up called Cannis Lupus Services India, offering Ayurvedic products for pets under the Fur Ball Story brand.
Supertails, a digital pet-care start-up, is one example of new brands addressing the needs of today’s young pet parents. Aside from food, the company offers a variety of treats, toys, grooming products and wellness products for pets. Varun Sadana, co-founder of Supertails, says that the brand has been almost doubling its revenue every quarter since its inception in May last year. He notes, “Pet care will soon extend beyond dogs and cats to rabbits, hamsters, fish, birds and turtles. We therefore plan to increase our category assortments to serve the maximum number of pet parents. Bringing international bestseller brands to India and disseminating the right information around pet care through our social media are some of the ways in which we plan to move forward.”
Nestle, Emami and Supertails are make the most of an emerging opportunity with a sharp increase in pet adoptions across the country over the past few years and with pet owners now identifying themselves as ‘pet parents’. According to industry data, of the 39 million pet population in India, 20 million are dogs, and the rest are cats, birds and so on.
The result has been an exponential growth in the category. The pet care segment in India is valued at around Rs 4,000 crore and growing at a CAGR of about 30%, as per industry reports. In two/three years the segment is expected to touch the magic figure of ₹10,000 crore.
No wonder firms from entirely unrelated categories are also throwing their hats into the ring. Last year, Cosmo First, a leading solution provider in the packaging, lamination, labelling, and synthetic paper segments, launched an omnichannel sales and services platform Zigly to offers a wide range of pet care products such as food, nutritional supplements, hygiene products, accessories and toys, besides services ranging from vet care to grooming and training. Zigly also said it is looking to provide equitable income opportunities for people who have chosen pet care as a profession.
The consumer mindset is changing and pet owners today treat their pets much like their own children, says an Emami spokesperson. The brand aims to differentiate itself from other offerings in the segment by offering only natural and Ayurvedic products, keeping the focus on holistic well-being, which is a growing need among consumers today.
A substantial part of the overall pet care segment, pet food (estimated at Rs.2,500 crore) is largely dominated by companies like Himalaya Wellness and Mars Petcare, a division of Mars Inc., which houses brands like Pedigree, Whiskas, Royal Canin, Sheba and Chappi. Describing India as one of the fastest growing pet care markets in the world, Salil Murthy, managing director, Mars Petcare says the company aims to grow the category by introducing products that incorporate factors like the pet’s age and breed. He adds that the company even offers a vegetarian variant of Pedigree to address the sensitivities of a section of Indian households.
One of its key initiatives over the years has been to educate buyers, driving awareness about the importance of meeting a pet’s nutritional needs with customised meals and food, not with home-cooked leftovers. It’s easy to lose sight of the pet’s unique needs motivation amid the day-to-day demands of work, it has highlighted in its communication.
Mars Petcare has also ramped up its distribution to make its products easily available across channels. “We are available in pet specialty stores, supermarkets and major grocery, kirana and pharmacy stores. We have also engaged with veterinarians, helping them upskill in clinical practice through seminars and hands-on sessions,” explains Murthy. Partnerships with quick commerce players like Swiggy and Dunzo have also enabled the company to deliver pet food swiftly.
A factor that played a key role in driving the category’s growth was the significant rise in pet adoptions during the pandemic years, explains Harsha Razdan, partner and head for consumer markets and internet business, KPMG in India. “Today, pet care brands are catering to consumer demand by increasingly focusing on e-commerce. With a good digital presence, this segment is likely to grow significantly in the near future and demand will also remain reasonably inelastic,” he observes, noting that pet adoption is especially increasing among Gen Z consumers. Considering the young consumer demographic they are addressing, pet care brands like Drools and Heads Up For Tails also work with celebrity faces such as Kareena Kapoor Khan, Hrithik Roshan and Kriti Sanon.
