M/A/R/C Research completed two sets of stratified surveys with 1,000 US pet owners to report on some of their behavioral changes with their pets during the Covid-19 health crisis during April & May.
This set of questions revolved around pet owners' intentions related to purchasing food for their pets during this Covid-19 crisis. The majority of respondents (57%) indicated little to no intentions of switching to less expensive brands while ~ 25% reported “very” to “extremely likely” to switch to less expensive brands.
Interestingly, there were more people saying they would spend more on the types of food they currently buy for their pets with a drop in the number who said they were planning to spend less on prescription pet food (from 17% to only 7%) between the two waves of the study. Some 34% said they would spend more on prescription pet food for their pets. For those buying prescription pet food, both the Online and veterinary channels were referenced by ~ 50% of respondents.
Cleveland Research Company shares results from a recent Global Covid-19 Pandemic Update & Implications for the U.S. Market study published in July.
This slide underscores the importance of having a vaccine in place to help alleviate the fear of getting things back to “normal”. At the time of this report and based on current progress, the vaccine is unlikely to be available for mass distribution prior to 2021. Elevated case counts are likely through the rest of 2020, highlighting the importance of being resilient and tenacious across your organization.
As schools, business, and events, struggle to restart, continue to be prepared for starts, stops, and reversals to occur. Plan accordingly having your flexible business plan in place and solvency to cope with the upcoming volatility.
Packaged Facts results from an April/May 2020 Survey of Pet Owners where pet owners were asked about pet adoptions. U.S. Pet Market Outlook (June 2020) https://www.packagedfacts.com/Pet-Outlook-13135569/
Pet appeal has unleashed itself in full force in the stay-at-home period of COVID-19. Among adults overall, 5% adopted a dog in a three-month period generally corresponding to the initial COVID-19 impact era, while 4% adopted a cat, and a relative spike of 4% of adults adopted other types of pets (including fish, birds, small mammals/animals, and reptiles/amphibians). On an annualized basis, the adoption rate for the most recent 3-month period (e.g. 20% for dogs, 16% for cats and 16% for other pets) was significantly higher than the rate of adoption for the most recent 12-month period.
Compared with overall and historic pet ownership patterns, pet adoption in 2020 has been disproportionately high for “other” types of pets, rather than dogs or cats as the most popular types of pets, because current pet adoption also ties in to a multiple-pet-ownership trend. There’s no under-appreciation of dogs or cats afoot: among recent pet adopters, 90% have a pet dog, compared with 75% of pet owners overall, and 70% have a cat, compared with 56% of pet owners overall. But other types of pets have gotten a disproportionate boost in adoption levels during this COVID-19 period because many households are adding to their number and types of pets.
This surge in pet adoption also ties in to having kids underfoot at home, given this stay-at-home period and school closures. While 8% of pet owners overall indicated that they had adopted a pet specifically because of the coronavirus pandemic, that rate notches up to 12% among those with children under age 18 at home.
Although pet adoption has skewed to “other” pets, there’s no under-appreciation of dogs or cats afoot. Among recent pet adopters, 90% have a pet dog, compared with 75% of pet owners overall, and 70% have a cat, compared with 56% of pet owners overall.
The COVID-19 triggered surge in pet adoption bodes well for boosting the pet market as the economic toll of the pandemic makes itself felt. Packaged Facts will continue to track this pet adoption trend as well as any countervailing patterns of pet relinquishment.
YTD results for the week of Aug 8 continue the upward and robust activity as sales across all categories improved versus the previous week YTD. Though up by 0.3% over prior week’s results, purchases of chronic care medications lag PY results by 0.1% but look to move positive by next week.
Canine and feline core vaccines, supplies, surgical suite purchases and the VCI index remain in positive territory vs 2019 YTD with growth ranging from 1.4% - 6.5% for the period across the 32,000+ practices and shelters in the Animalytix marketplace.
In total, 92% of the Vetalytix market areas (218 / 236) reflect parity or increases over prior year to date purchasing as measured by the proprietary Animalytix Veterinary Consumption Index (VCI), a $1.8B+ market basket of exam room and surgical suite consumables which acts as a proxy for traffic through the practice. Across all regions, VCI performance YTD remains most challenging in the Northeast and West Coast.
*Map displays YTD Canine Core vaccine sales courtesy of Animalytix
For the week ending August 8, total purchases of combined canine and feline flea, tick and heartworm preventatives across 32,000+ practices and shelter locations were up 6.5% versus prior YTD performance. Each of the four individual categories were up for the week with the canine heartworm category posting very robust YTD results at 12.6% over 2019 purchases.
Among the 236 Vetalytix Market Areas, 199 (84%) reported net YTD growth as of last week on total parasiticide purchases. The St. George, UT and San Diego, CA zones were among those most improved with purchasing volume increases over prior week of 10.3% and 8.7% respectively.
*Map displays YTD Canine/Feline F/T/HW Parasiticide sales courtesy of Animalytix
For the week ending August 8, total revenues YTD across all reporting practices were up, posting +3.2% growth versus 2019 results. While YTD results for the number of unique patients, clients and invoice totals continue to lag PY totals, each of these segments showed continued improvement with each being slightly improved over the prior year’s weekly results.
Overall, 175 of 214 reporting zones posted net revenue growth for the week vs the year prior week. This contrasts with total patient counts which remain slightly below PY results at (-2.5%) with only 23% (49 / 214) of market areas reporting parity or above 2019 YTD totals.
Across all regions, a total of seven market zones met or surpassed the “Return to Revenue” threshold this past week including Columbus, OH, Stockton, CA, and Rockford, IL, among others. The “Return to Revenue” threshold has now been met by 86% or 184 of 214 market zones reported year to date. The most robust week over week improvement in results were reported by Rockford, IL and Amarillo, TX at 1.7% and 0.9% improvement, respectively.
In total, 44 states are net positive in terms of total revenues compared with 2019 results based on those states included in the Greenline sample. With OH moving into the positive, only MA, NE, and PA remain negative on YTD Revenue compared to 2019.
*Map displays YTD total hospital revenue courtesy of Greenline Pet
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