The market is growing in Italy

The 14th edition of the Assalco-Zoomark Report highlights the sales trend in the Italian pet supplies market in the twelve months from July 2020 to June 2021. According to the data, which was processed by IRI Information Resources, the market for dog and cat food was worth 2.431 bn euros, realised in sales via traditional pet shops, pet store chains, supermarkets and Amazon. Growth compared with the same period in the previous year amounted to eight per cent.The main distribution channels through supermarkets and pet shops brought in sales of 2.339 bn euros. This equated to a positive trend of 6.4 per cent compared with the same period in the previous year.

The figures conceal an extremely varied trend in the different distribution channels, however. Traditional pet shops accounted for 653.6 mio euros, more than a quarter of the overall market for pet food and equivalent to a slight increase in sales of 1.3 per cent in terms of volume and of 0.3 per cent in value. The organised pet store chains, on the other hand, painted a completely different picture: although they were responsible for "only" 12.8 per cent of overall sales (312 mio euros), growth in value terms was 19.7 per cent as compared with the previous year, while volume growth came to 13.8 per cent.

With regard to the pet population in Italy, the Assalco Report uses the figures from Euromonitor International. According to these, over 62 mio pets are resident in the country between the Adriatic and the Mediterranean, including 30 mio ornamental fish, 16 mio dogs and cats, 13 mio cage birds and 3.5 mio small animals and reptiles.