Page 18 - PET worldwide issue 2/2021

Markets

an end to the downward trend of cent. Dogs are in second place, tion of households with three or
previous years and marking a re- with 10.7 mio canines in 21 per more persons remains at 35 per
turn to the 2018 level. cent of households. According cent. 31 per cent of pets live in
“The coronavirus pandemic to the latest survey, the propor- single-person households (2019:
was a relevant factor influenc- tion of crossbreeds has fallen 30 per cent). There were no ma-
ing the sales trend,” said Norbert from 47 to 42 per cent. 5 mio jor changes from 2019 when it
Holthenrich, president of the ZZF, small animals such as rabbits, came to the age profile of pet
with reference to the figures. It guinea pigs, hamsters and mice owners. Many pet owners are
was beneficial to the sector that live in 5 per cent of households. thus at the mid-life stage, with
pet product supply channels op- The number of cage birds was 16 per cent aged from 30 to 39
erated continuously during the 3.5 mio in 3 per cent of house- (2019: 16 per cent), 19 per cent
holds. In the same period, 1.8 in the age category of 40 to 49
“PET STORES ARE THE PRINCIPAL SALES mio aquariums were to be found (2019: 20 per cent) and 22 per
CHANNEL FOR PET REQUISITES AND in 4 per cent of households, cent in the 50 to 59 group (2019:
ACCESSORIES” garden ponds with fish in 3 per 22 per cent). The number of pet
IVH/ZZF cent of German homes and 1.3 owners aged up to 29 remained
mio terrariums in 2 per cent of unchanged at 17 per cent, while
households. the number of over-60s owning
Covid-19 crisis, as pet stores “The growth in the numbers pets showed a modest increase
were deemed to be an essential of dogs and cats is naturally to 25 per cent (2019: 24 per
service. pleasing, but not entirely un- cent).
expected,” says Georg Müller, “The market development
35 mio pets chairman of the Industriever- of the pet supplies sector and
The results of a representative band Heimtierbedarf (IVH). The the growing number of pets in
survey carried out by market trend towards acquiring a dog or Germany show that Germans
research company Skopos for cat was amplified by the unique continue to enjoy life with pets
IVH and ZZF at the beginning of circumstances of people work- and that they are conscientious
the second lockdown in autumn ing from home during the coro- about feeding and caring for
2020 (based on 7 000 respond- navirus crisis. their pets, perhaps even more
ents) showed that 47 per cent of Most pets in Germany live in so in unique periods such as the
all households in Germany kept multi-person households. Two- current pandemic,” say Georg
pets. Overall, Germans shared person households account for Müller and Norbert Holthenrich
their homes with 34.9 mio dogs, 34 per cent of the total (2019: in summary.
cats, small animals and cage 35 per cent), while the propor- n
birds, an increase of nearly a mil-
lion compared with the previous
year. Added to these were count- Significant growth in online
less fish and reptiles. 66 per cent
of all families with children owned business
a pet, and at least two types of The growing significance of the Internet when it comes to shop-
pet were kept in 13 per cent of ping for pet products became yet more noticeable during 2020,
all households.
year of the coronavirus. The estimated volume of sales last year
Cats remain the number one was approx. 822 mio euros, thus 117 mio euros more than in
pet, with a total of 15.7 mio fe- 2019, equivalent to an increase of over 16 per cent. At present,
lines living in 26 per cent of no differentiated, species-specific data on the online market is
German households. The pro- available.
portion of house cats is 52 per

18 PET worldwide 2|2021

PWW2021-02_Buch.indb 18 06.05.2021 11:36:53