A difficult year for bricks-and-mortar pet stores

Despite the difficult economic situation, the German pet supplies industry was able to maintain its total sales of more than 7 bn euros in 2024 compared to the previous year. With a turnover of almost 5.4 bn euros, the stationary specialist and food retail trade even recorded a slight increase of 0.9 per cent. In addition, a good 1.5 bn euros will be generated by online trading (+14.5 per cent compared to 2023) and 145 mio euros by wild bird food (-9.9 per cent). This is according to the latest market data from the German Pet Supplies Industry Association (Industrieverband Heimtierbedarfs) and the German Pet Trade and Industry Association (Zentralverband Zoologischer Fachbetriebe).

With a drop in sales of more than 188 mio euros compared to the previous year, bricks-and-mortar pet shops were the big losers last year. This was not surprising and reflects the rather subdued mood in the specialist retail sector at present. While the decline in pet accessories was relatively mild at € 16 million, the channel lost 172 mio euros in pet food sales compared to the previous year. As a result, pet supplies also lost market share, falling to 35 per cent (-2 per cent) for pet food. Food retailing, on the other hand, increased its market share by 2 per cent to 65 per cent. In the pet accessories segment, the stationary pet shop remains the most important sales channel with a market share of 77 per cent, but lost 1 per cent of its market share to food retailers in 2024.

Despite the stagnating market, there were winners and losers among the product groups. In the pet food segment, sales of cat food increased by 3.5 per cent year on year to 2.285 bn euros. Sales of dog food fell slightly (1.759 bn euros; -0.7 per cent), while the decline in sales of bird food was more pronounced at 4.1 per cent to 71 mio euros. In particular, the small animal feed category will lose ground, falling by 7.9 per cent to 82 mio euros in 2024. In contrast, the ornamental fish food category will develop positively in 2024 (62 mio euros; +3.3 per cent).

With the exception of cat accessories and cat litter, which increased by 0.4 per cent and 7.1 per cent respectively compared to 2023, there were significant declines in sales of pet accessories. These were particularly drastic for pet birds (-10 per cent) and small animals (-8.3 per cent). Sales of dog accessories (-4.9%) and aquarium accessories (-6.2 per cent) were also down on the previous year.

IVH and ZZF estimate that there will be 33.9 mio pets in Germany in 2024. This represents a decrease of 400 000 animals compared to the previous year. While the number of cats will increase by 200 000 to 15.9 mio compared to 2023, the number of dogs will remain constant at 10.5 mio. There are significant decreases in the numbers of small animals and ornamental birds (each down by 300 000), aquariums and garden ponds (each down by 200 000) and terrariums (down by 100 000). In 2024, 44 per cent of German households had pets (2023: 45 per cent).