Holiday Spending Under Way in Pet Industry

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With shoppers spending $5 billion in 24 hour on digital platforms, this year’s Black Friday was record breaking, according to Adobe Digital Insights. While digital was king this year, brick and mortar stores also fared well, with foot traffic having “decreased less than 1 percent when compared to Black Friday 2016,” according to ShopperTrak and as reported by CNN Money.

While consumers, of course, buy pet food and supplies all year round (the American Pet Products Association reports that pet industry spending for 2016 came in at a record high $66.75 billion, up from $60.28 billion in 2015—a 10.7 percent growth), the pet industry experiences strong seasonality spending just like any other consumer product category, according to John Gibbons, president of a GPS for Pet Businesses.

Many segments, like collars and leads, experience a big boost at retail in the spring as people and their pets spend more time outdoors. The fall chill brings the promise of winter’s inevitable cold, so apparel and “indoor” product sales begin to climb.

“Nothing can hold a candle to Christmas,” Gibbons wrote in a 2014 report. “The ‘lift’ associated with Christmas has been a long tradition in America. It is a season for gift giving, and the increased retail ‘traffic’ in the stores generally gives a boost to most categories—people products or pet.

While the Christmas season is officially kicked off by Black Friday, Gibbons said many stores are now starting the season earlier, displaying holiday and discounted items sometimes a month before Black Friday. “The ‘push’ for the consumer’s dollars gets more frantic every year,” according to Gibbons.