Trends in pet products

The top trend globally is pet product marketing that reflects the human-pet relationship. Americans have always loved their pets and humanized them to some degree. But in recent years marketers have realized that a fast-track route to higher-ticket sales is via advertising and new products that legitimize this depth of emotion. They confirm that it's socially OK to pamper pets at almost any cost. People don't feel like the crazy cat lady anymore.

David Lummis

In the United States, marketing is about premium products and pushing into higher-income demographics. Owners are paying more for products with packaging that makes stuff look good enough for people to eat and use. There's a financial and medical side, too. People will buy high-quality foods for kittens if they know they can prevent a $1,500 radiation treatment down the road.

We're going to see growth in organic pet food products as official guidelines for organic pet food come out next year. And after the pet food recall, people will want to do business with companies that can tell them what the ingredients are and where they come from.

David Lummis is senior pet market analyst with Packaged Facts, a division of MarketResearch.com that publishes market intelligence.