The outbreak of the pet economy calls for industrial standardization

In recent years, the pet consumer market has shown great vitality, the scale of the industry has continued to expand, and various industrial chains covering the entire life cycle of pets have been formed. The pet economy has become a popular track. In the past, Yuanfei Biotech, the "first dog rope stock", was successfully listed, and later, Tianyuan Pet, the "first cat climbing frame stock", passed the review of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange Listing Committee. During this year’s “Double 11”, sales of pet food and supplies reached 3.12 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.6%, confirming the explosion of the pet economy. However, the all-encompassing pet economy, such as pet trading, pet food supplies, pet hospitals, etc., poses difficult problems for supervision. Issues such as how to protect the rights and interests of consumers and how to ensure the safety of pets themselves need to be solved urgently. In view of this, the Global Times An investigation was made into the current status, development, problems and regulatory systems of the pet economy at home and abroad.

Hundreds of millions of "cat cats" breed a trillion-dollar market

Zhang Ning, who raised a Chinese garden cat, told a reporter from the Global Times: "The cost of raising a cat is more than I imagined. In addition to daily food, cat litter, etc., it also involves vaccinations and sterilization. , deworming medicine, toys, etc." He calculated his daily expenses and found that the monthly expenses were about 500 yuan. "I didn't buy anything else on Double 11, but I bought 12 cat cans for my furry child. , it costs nearly 300 yuan and can last for about a month.”

Compared with cats, the cost of pet dogs may be higher. Lin Fang, who has just retired, owns two Shiba Inu dogs less than one year old. In order to help them better adapt to family life and master certain skills, such as sitting down, following, shaking hands, etc., Lin Fang spent 50,000 yuan to send them to " Attend "pet training school." "Shiba Inu dogs are born with the potential to 'break up homes'. At that time, I saw that many pet dogs had become very well-behaved and well-behaved after learning, so I planned to send them to classes. However, I didn't expect that after 3 months, they had no skills at all. I didn't learn how to do it, and my temper became a lot worse." So, after reading a lot of information, Lin Fang understood that to train a pet, you actually need to "train" yourself first. She gradually developed a trusting relationship with the two Shiba Inu dogs through some training techniques. On weekends, Lin Fang will sometimes take them for grooming and grooming. “Pet shops on weekends are always crowded, and you have to queue up if you want to make an appointment for grooming.”

Data from the "2021 China Pet Industry White Paper" show that the total number of pet dogs and pet cats in cities and towns across the country will exceed 112 million in 2021, of which the number of pet dogs is approximately 54.29 million, and the number of pet cats is approximately 58.06 million. Cats have surpassed dogs to become The first pet. The urban pet dog and pet cat consumption market reached 249 billion yuan, an increase of 20.6% compared with 2020.

Liu Lang, president of the Pet Industry Branch of the China Animal Husbandry Association, told the Global Times reporter: "The pet economy has driven the development of agriculture, manufacturing, service industries and other related industries; in some areas, the pet industry has become an economic growth priority created by the government. With the new engine, my country’s pet industry has entered a stage of rapid development.”

It is understood that my country's pet industry started in the early 1990s and has now entered a period of rapid development. Liu Lang said that future development will show several trends: First, the scale of the pet market continues to grow. At present, the penetration rate of household pet ownership in my country is less than 20%. Compared with the 68% pet ownership ratio in the United States and 45% in the United Kingdom, there is still much room for the development of my country's pet industry. Second, the pet industry chains are becoming more and more complete and services are diversified. ; Third, the concentration of the pet industry has further increased. According to the development trend of the international pet market, with the intervention of capital and the entry of cross-border enterprises, my country's pet food, supplies, and medical markets will further consolidate towards the top; fourth, industrial clustering, with specialty industries driving regional development. With the rapid development of the pet industry, many local governments have begun to pay attention to the pet industry, have established pet industry parks, and introduced a series of investment policies to increase support for the pet industry and cultivate regional advantageous pillar industries.

Research shows that when a country's per capita GDP is between US$3,000 and US$8,000, the pet industry will develop rapidly. In 2021, as my country's per capita GDP crosses the US$10,000 mark. With the continuous improvement of people's material living standards, keeping pets has become an emotional companion for children, singles, and the elderly, as well as an emotional catalyst for marriage and family, occupying an increasingly important position in people's daily lives. Liu Lang predicts: "In the next ten years, the pet industry will continue to develop rapidly. The scale of the pet economy may exceed one trillion yuan, and China will become the world's largest pet market."

Supervision needs to start with standards

At present, my country's pet industry has developed an industrial chain covering the entire life cycle of pets, including food, clothing, housing, transportation, birth, old age, illness, and death. The upstream of the industry chain is pet breeding and trading, pet food and supplies, of which pet food includes three major segments: staple food, snacks, and nutritional products; the downstream is pet medical care and pet services, of which pet medical care includes medicines, diagnosis and treatment, vaccines, and physical examinations. Pet services mainly include grooming, pet care, pet photography, pet insurance, pet domestication, pet funeral and other subdivisions. However, as the pet economy gradually heats up, companies entering the pet industry emerge one after another. Quite a few companies blindly follow the trend without considering the actual market demand of the pet industry. Pet food safety, medical disputes, and trust crises occur from time to time.

"The difficulty in supervising pet food and pet hospitals lies in the lack of standards." Liu Lang, president of the Pet Industry Branch of the China Animal Husbandry Association, said that he believes that establishing minimum standards to protect consumer rights is the key, and it is important to strengthen the improvement of relevant industry standards and promote Market standardization and improvement of industry standardization process. The establishment of the National Companion Animal (Pet) Standardization Technical Committee and the National Feed Industry Standardization Committee Pet Feed Sub-Technical Committee will play a very important role in promoting the standardization process of my country's pet industry.

For example, in the case of pet hospitals, Li Qian, a doctor at Beijing Chong Ai International Animal Hospital, believes that in recent years, as the number of pet owners has increased and the types of pets have increased, the management and business scope of animal hospitals have also ushered in changes. Li Qian said, "For a general hospital, there will be a pharmacy, clinics, inpatient departments, imaging rooms, traditional Chinese medicine clinics, etc., and even specialized divisions, such as cat clinics and exotic pet departments. In addition, Pet insurance is also popular among people." But until now, there is still no distinction between large animals and small companion animals in our country. For example, about 80% of the content of the practicing veterinarian qualification certificate examination is mainly about large animals.

As the pet economy enters an explosive period, Li Qian believes that the pet industry still has many problems that need attention: First, because the production cost of pet food is not high, there are now a variety of brands on the market, which require strict food safety standards; Second, in terms of education, more targeted subjects should be set up, such as systematic training for small animals; third, in terms of drug diagnosis and treatment, there are currently relatively few specialized drugs for pets, and pets often suffer from "nothing". Medicine can cure" situation. In addition, the operating costs of animal hospitals are very high, such as the cost of medical equipment. The high costs will inevitably be shared among the patients, resulting in high animal diagnosis and treatment costs.

It is understood that at present, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has issued a series of pet feed management measures and regulations on pet food, such as the "Pet Feed Management Measures" and "Pet Feed Production Enterprise Licensing Conditions" to strengthen pet food management and regulate the pet food market; pet medical aspects The "Measures for the Management of Animal Diagnosis and Treatment Institutions" and the "Measures for the Management of Practicing Veterinarians and Rural Veterinarians" have been newly revised to regulate pet diagnosis and treatment institutions and pet physician practitioners. Liu Lang told reporters: "For medical negligence and medical accidents caused by medical errors, there should be an authoritative medical accident appraisal committee to determine negligence liability, use the law to protect the rights and interests of consumers, and also resist medical disturbances that endanger business order and protect enterprises. legitimate operations.”

There is no shortage of diversified new business formats in overseas markets

Similar to the domestic outbreak of demand, the pet economy is huge and growing rapidly in many European and American countries. For example, the United States, as the country with the highest number of household pets in the world, has seen a gradual increase in pet-related consumer spending. From the perspective of consumer spending market segments, pet food and snacks will still be the largest segment of pet consumer spending in the United States in 2021, and high-quality pet food is the largest consumption by pet owners in the US market. According to data, consumer spending on pet food and snacks in the United States will be US$50 billion in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 13.6%; followed by veterinary services, with consumer spending of US$34.3 billion.

In addition, in New Zealand, a country in Oceania, about 64% of New Zealand households own at least one pet. The country has the highest proportion of pets per household in the world outside the United States. Dogs and cats are the most common pets in New Zealand households, followed by fish, small mammals and reptiles. As the birth rate of New Zealand's population declines, people spend more time with their pets than in the past, which has given rise to a full industry chain of pet products and services "from the cradle to the grave."

The current annual sales of the New Zealand pet industry are approximately NZ$1.8 billion (approximately US$1.15 billion), of which pet food consumption is approximately NZ$787 million. According to the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries, New Zealand's pet product exports have doubled in the past five years, reaching NZ$261 million in 2021. It can be seen from the analysis that the driving factor for export growth mainly comes from the increase in product value rather than the increase in product quantity. In the past five years, the number of exports of pet products has increased by only 2%.

After the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, compared with traditional consumer industries such as tourism, catering, and fitness, the pet industry has become a rare bright spot for economic growth. During the interview, corporate manager Jeff made a calculation for the author. As a typical middle class person in New Zealand, Jeff and his wife have an annual after-tax disposable income of about NZ$130,000, an average of NZ$2,500 per week. Jeff has a Border Collie at home. Because of its relatively pure bloodline, the local price is around NZ$8,000. After that, including registration, vaccination, insurance purchase and daily expenses, the average weekly expenditure is about 150 to 200 New Zealand dollars. In order to train the Border Collie's physical fitness, willpower and awareness of family protection, Jeff participated in a special dog training course. Courses last for 30 weeks, run once a week, and cost around NZ$120 each time.

At the same time, the author observes that the pet sports industry has become the highlight of New Zealand this year. Different from the traditional dog walking method, pet sports trainers provide special services such as "wilderness adventure", "rapid rapids" and "young dog training". For example, in wilderness adventure projects, pet athletes will lead dogs who are good at long-distance running in the wild to cross and run in complex terrain such as woods, coasts, and hillsides. During breaks, the pet sportsman will also provide toys such as balls and sticks to improve the dog's creativity and social skills. In order to ensure that the dogs will not get lost during outdoor activities, the pet sportsman also installs a GPS positioning system on each dog. Of course, high-quality pet services don’t come cheap. If it is just a simple dog walk, it will cost about NZD 25-30 per time, and the time will be about 1 to 2 hours. For special activities such as wilderness adventures and dog training for young children, the fee ranges from NZD 65-100 per session.