Highs and lows

The French economy paints a picture that is familiar from many European countries: however badly the domestic economy is faring, the pet supplies sector seems to be relatively unaffected for the most part. And this is also the case in the home of the Eiffel Tower, to judge by the sales of the sector as a whole in 2014. Total sales in the pet supplies market increased in 2014 by 3.1 per cent compared with 2013 to € 4.58 bn, according to the latest study by the industry association Prom'animal. A look at the sales trend in the last five years even shows an increase in sales of over 20 per cent compared with 2009. Once again, the big categories of dog and cat prove to be the sales generators for the French pet market, together accounting for sales of € 3.81 bn, up by € 146 mio compared with the previous year. As in previous years, the cat category brings in the most in sales, generating sales of € 1.94 bn in 2014. This was an increase of € 66 mio over 2013. If one considers the five-year period from 2009 to 2014, the category experienced sales growth of 29 per cent. Following in second place is the dog category with sales of € 1.87 bn, an increase of € 80 mio over the previous year. Growth over the five-year period 2009-2014 came to 18 per cent here. The pond segment is also among the winning categories, with sales growing by € 2 mio to € 48 mio from 2013 to 2014. The reptile category once again recorded a big increase in sales from € 30 mio in 2013 to € 35 mio in 2014. Hobby farming is apparently also becoming increasingly popular among French pet owners: the category accounted for sales worth € 189 mio in 2014, an increase of € 13 mio compared with 2013.

So is it all good news? Not quite. There are a couple of small clouds, in spite of the sunny sales figures. Not all segments benefited from the good sales figures of the markets: the wild bird segment, for instance, suffered a painful downturn, with sales collapsing by 21 per cent from € 70 mio in 2013 to total revenue of € 55 mio in 2014. Not quite as bad, but regressive nevertheless, was the sales trend in the caged bird segment. Sales in this segment fell by € 3 mio in 2014 to € 81 mio. The aquatics segment was also among last year's losers, with sales of € 211 mio as compared with € 221 mio the year before. The decline over the five-year period from 2009 to 2014 was even more pronounced, with sales in France falling by 12 per cent. Sales in the small animal segment likewise exhibited a…