32 per cent growth for wellness services

The pet market is also changing dramatically in Italy. Companies in the pet care sector have grown by 32 per cent over the past five years, which corresponds to around 1 400 new companies. The growth in veterinary services was even stronger, increasing by 39.4 per cent. This is according to an analysis by Unioncamera (Union of Italian Chambers of Commerce) and Info Camera (the company that manages the digital services of Unioncamera) based on data from the Business Register for 2024.

This confirms the increasing tendency of pet owners to consider pets as an integral part of the household. The data on the 27 000 companies shows a strong shift in the focus of operators from production and trade to services: fewer companies on the pet and feed supply side, more room for veterinarians and wellness services.

Looking at the decade from 2014 to 2024, the sector remains stable overall (+0.05 per cent of the change in businesses), demonstrating a remarkable adaptability to the changes triggered by the financial crisis and then the pandemic, Unioncamera said in its press release. “In this double transition, the real revolution took the form of a redistribution of activities: Within ten years, companies in the care services sector almost doubled (90.1 per cent), while those in the animal trade sector fell by 17.5 per cent.“

The wholesale of animal feed recorded a sharp decline of 34.3 per cent during this period. According to Unioncamera, the fastest growing production sector is pet food with 28 per cent growth since 2019, with increasingly personalised and higher quality food.