The Signal: National lockdowns have sparked a global dialogue on the importance of mental health. As weeks of social distancing turn into months, people are experiencing an increasing sense of isolation and loneliness, as well as stress over losing their jobs and other financial uncertainties. Those fears appear to be transferring to man’s best friend. Increasing search interest in anti-anxiety pet beds indicates that animals are just as anxious as we are.
Google Searches:
- Dog calming bed: 22.2k searches/month
- Calming bed for dogs: 6.6k searches/month
- Anti-anxiety dog bed: 2.4k searches/month
- Calming cat bed: 1.6k searches/month
The pet industry is notoriously recession-proof. Historically, not only does pet care spending not decline during a recession, it actually grew by 29% and 17% during the 2001 and 2009 recessions, respectively. But this economic crisis is different. Even previously recession-proof businesses like hair and beauty salons have taken it on the chin.
Early indicators suggest the pet industry will be one of the few that prove to be recession-resistant this time around. Shares of Chewy (NYSE: CHWY), an online retailer of pet food and supplies in the US, soared 26.7% in March despite its continued struggle to be profitable, while the S&P 500 declined about 13%.
But the coronavirus presents new challenges to this robust industry, and many pet service businesses are having to adjust. Pet boarding services, for example, which many expected would see exponential growth in years to come, have taken a knock as search interest in terms like “dog hotel”, “dog daycare”, and “dog spa” have plummeted.
The Opportunity: Opportunities in the industry still abound. A recent pet adoption and fostering boom, which has helped empty out many animal shelters, means that pet ownership is at an alltime high. The Dallas Animal Services shelter, for example, placed over 100 pets in foster homes less than a week after it ramped up its solicitations for foster parents. The shelter placed 17 animals during the same period last year.
Anti-Anxiety Beds and Products: Calming pet beds are gaining popularity on Amazon, according to JungleScout. Search interest in “calming dog bed” has increased by 49% over the last 90 days to 11k searches per month. Suppliers such as Nova Microdermabrasion and Focus Pet making are making $80k and $70k per month, respectively, in revenue from their calming dog beds.
Focus Pet currently moves about 1.8k calming dog beds per month, and its $47.99 medium-sized bed accounts for 60% of total sales. With FBA fulfillment fees ($5.01), referral fees ($7.20), and an estimated procurement cost of ~$6.60, per unit profit margin is ~60%, which translates to ~$42k in total profit per month on all of its beds.
Beds are not the only anti-anxiety products that pet parents are buying to calm their pooches. A plethora of products are designed to ease pet anxiety, a trend that may continue as dog moms and dads start returning to work in coming months. These include, for example: anxiety jackets, calming collars, pheromone-diffusers, aromatherapy wipes, stress-reducing music and Bluetooth speakers, and calming gel paw patches.
Other Pet Furniture Niches: The global pet furniture market was valued at $2.1B in 2018, 33% of which was attributed to beds and sofas. The pet furniture market is expanding, with bed products in particular becoming fragmented. Google searches for different pet bed niches demonstrate this:
- Cool dog beds: 12.1k searches/month
- Dog hammock: 8.1k searches/month
- Unique dog beds: 2.9k searches/month
- Orthopedic dog beds: 2.8k searches/month
- Designer dog beds: 2.4k searches/month
- Modern dog beds: 2.4k searches/month
Similar to the apparel industry, pet furniture can be differentiated according to price strategy, ranging from budget, to value, to luxury. Tuft and Paw, for example, sells ultra modern cat beds that cost up to $999 a pop. There are approximately 58k monthly visits to the company’s website, a 51% increase in traffic compared to previous months, according to SimilarWeb.
Some other furniture trends that may make it to the mainstream over the coming months include dual-purpose space-saving pet furniture, abstract architectural pet beds, and antimicrobial pet mattresses.
Pet Supplements: Philadelphia-based start-up Because Animals, which sells supplements for dogs and cats that promote coat, immune, and digestive wellness, has experienced a surge in sales in the last few weeks. The company’s sales in the first week of April reportedly exceeded total sales for March.
According to JungleScout, animal supplements are big business, with some individual products bringing in as much as $150k per month in sales. CBD-based products for pets, including oil, shampoo, supplements, and treats, have also been getting a lot of attention in recent years, although interest appears to be slowing down and was largely unaffected by the pandemic.
Entrepreneurs looking to capitalize on the pet supplements trend will be met with stiff competition from big players such as Bayer Animal Health, but increasing demand and pet ownership generally means that there may be space for smaller players to compete.
Services: Pet products have proven to be the most resilient part of the industry when compared to non-medical services such as boarding, walking, and sitting. This segment is forecast to drop by 47% over the next year to $5.5B. Despite this, there are still opportunities. Search interest in “mobile pet grooming”, for instance, has soared worldwide as people are desperately trying to access these services without having to leave their homes.
The pet products space is becoming increasingly busy. Searches like “best dog food” (100k searches/month), and “healthy dog food” (15k searches/month) are flooded with low-quality listicles, highlighting the opportunity to build information hubs and pet owner communities. There is a gap in the market to provide information, support, and associated services to help pet owners combat specific issues such as “dog anxiety” (27k searches/month) and “dog diabetes” (27k searches/month).
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