Nowadays, the "relationship between people and pets" becomes increasingly close, and the concept of "pet rearing for the rich" and "pet rearing for the poor" also prevails. Pet owners' focus on pet food has also changed from feeding pets to how to make children eat healthily and happily. Through the "1.0 era" of casual feeding and the "2.0 era" of standard popularization, we have now come to the "3.0 era" of personalized customization. A healthy, refined and fresh track is gradually taking shape.
1. Functional pet food
Functional food is the inevitable result of the intimate development of human pet relationship. The more people pay attention to their pets, the more detailed their needs for pet food. In recent years, pet food has become so close to human demand that some companies even require researchers to taste it for themselves.
Different from the traditional pet food industry, the selection of raw materials pays more attention to whether it can ensure the comprehensive and balanced nutrition of finished products. On this basis, functional pet food also refines and focuses on certain functions. Pet foods and ingredients are defined as "functional" and are required to provide health benefits beyond the range of essential nutrients (vitamins, minerals, water, protein, carbohydrates, and fats) such as gastrointestinal health, enhanced hair, strong bones, and fat loss.
For example, a special formula for obese pets with weight control effect, in addition to the reasonable formula, the selection of raw materials requirements are more clear and detailed. The same ingredients that can provide dietary fiber, functional formulas also consider low-fat, low-calorie, low-carb water and other requirements.
Two, fresh food
Traditional pet food is basically divided into dry, semi-wet and wet three ways, because of storage, cheap and convenient. With the continuous upgrading of consumption and the gradual deepening of consumers' attention to pets, more and more consumers are no longer satisfied with traditional pet food, and they hope their pets can eat better. Fresh food becomes a new track. According to a report by Packaged Facts, a market research company, 61 percent of American pet owners are willing to pay a premium for customized pet food.
Some pet food companies calculate the most appropriate calories after recording a pet's age, breed and eating habits, so that pets can bid farewell to puffed dry food and eat fresh, customized ingredients every day like people.
At present, the penetration rate of pet fresh food in China is still very low, accounting for less than 5% of the market at present, and there is still a lot of space. Obstacles to the prosperity of the fresh food market include incomplete consumer education, unclear industry standards, complex feeding procedures, and high prices. With rich e-commerce experience, domestic brands can reduce customer acquisition costs through online community, IP and other new sales channels, which are expected to realize the transformation from content to traffic and sales volume, and improve user experience through technological innovation. "Corner passing" may be achieved in this subdivision direction.
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It should be noted that fresh food products are made fresh, and vacuum treatment will be carried out during packaging. Ice will be added during transportation and cold chain transportation will be used (only select Jingdong Logistics). They need to be kept at low temperature, so they should be refrigerated or frozen as soon as possible after receiving fresh food. Please open and finish as soon as possible. Because the food has been exposed to the air, just as cooked food tends to decay, E. coli has grown exponentially; Therefore, if you have not finished eating after opening, please be sure to refrigerate and finish eating as soon as possible.
Iii. Safety
Pet food safety has always been the most concerned issue of consumers. According to the data released by the China Consumers Association, 6,617 pet complaints were received in the first half of 2022, a significant year-on-year increase, among which pet food safety became the main problem of consumer complaints.
For pet families, safety is the number one factor in choosing pet food. Because our country does not have the national standards and regulations for pet food at present, the pet food market is good and some are bad. Many "poopers" said that every time they buy pet food, they have to check the evaluation on various platforms, and also check the real evaluation in the evaluation post. Each time, they need a lot of time to compare and choose the relatively safe pet food. Many people have had pets for four or five years and still don't have a brand they fully trust.
Therefore, in this field, each brand is almost at the same starting line, each brand can in accordance with the European and American standards of their own, with "safety" as the core selling point, packaging, publicity to show the content of various ingredients, nutrition transparent, gradually build the most trusted brand by consumers.
