Premium and single serve growing in popularity

Dry food products, which have long dominated the pet food market in the USA, are gradually penetrating markets in Europe too. Last year dry cat food experienced varied levels of growth in most European countries, while sales of wet cat food declined. Although this doesn't change the fact that the cat food market will remain a wet food market even in the future, the perceptible decline in sales of canned products shows that a reversal of the trend is taking place across Europe. What has occasioned this development? One important reason is that the message put out by the industry for years now that dry food is cheaper than wet food is gaining a hearing with an increasing number of consumers. Another factor is that cats are now accepting the dry food products offered on the market sooner than was the case previously. One of the arguments maintained for a long time against dry food - that the brown pellets lack tastiness - is no longer valid today. More and more pet owners are finding that feeding canned food is irksome because they see storage of the remaining contents of the can as a hygiene problem. Suppliers of wet food have reacted to this and have come up with an appetising, easy to handle alternative to the can for cat owners with the development of so-called single-serve products. And they have been successful: cat food products in trays and stand-up pouches have proved a sales sensation in recent years. Above all, single-serve products in premium quality, enriched with prime ingredients for felines with a liking for delicacies, have acquired a substantial share of the market. In addition to the leading pet food suppliers, Masterfoods and Nestlé Purina Pet Care, several specialists like Agras Delic and Almo Nature have also plunged into this niche market and developed exclusive products that are sold only by the speciality trade. What makes them particularly attractive is their high profit margin for the trade.Although the market for cat food is always moving, little changes with regard to its basic structures. Wet products continue to account for two-thirds of all cat food sales. In the supermarkets in particular, canned food and trays dominate the shelves in the pet food aisles. Manufacturers of branded goods are engaged in a price war with suppliers of private label products, in many countries to the point of causing retailers serious difficulty. In the pet product trade, the wet segment continues to dominate the cat food market in many European…