With the continuous improvement of people's living standards, driven by the emotional consumption spurred by pet ownership, the domestic pet industry has continued to grow in scale, with a clear trend of consumption upgrading. To provide pet owners with higher-quality products and more considerate services, and to offer the most appropriate consumption advice, JD Pet, in conjunction with the JD Consumer and Industry Development Research Institute, conducted an in-depth and comprehensive review of the pet industry in 2021. Under the major industry trends of refined pet ownership, healthy pet ownership, and intelligent pet ownership, six specific development trends were released: refined pet food, online medical care, intelligent equipment, meticulous pet ownership, diversified services, and diversified pet ownership.
Driven by new consumption trends, JD Pet not only offers a wider variety of products, but also upgrades its "Safe Pet Care" service multiple times to meet new needs and scenarios. It has established standards for recommending premium pet food, launched JD Health Pet Hospital and pet medical insurance card, demonstrating its sincerity to consumers that "Shop on JD for safe pet care".
Trend 1: Pet food is becoming more refined
As pet owners become increasingly focused on their pets' dietary health, the selection of staple pet food is becoming more diversified and refined. More pet owners are paying attention to the multi-functional benefits of staple food, such as enhanced immunity, digestive health, calcium supplementation, and skin and coat care. Natural, organic, and imported premium pet food are gaining popularity. Notably, consumers show a higher preference for domestic brands than imported brands, indicating a strong rise of domestic brands. Driven by the demand for high-quality staple food, JD Pet launched the "JD Platform Full-Price Pet Food Recommendation Standard" in 2021, which exceeds international and US standards. This standard helps pet owners select higher-quality pet food, ensuring their pets eat with peace of mind.
To ensure a balanced diet for your pet, start with the nutritional composition of their pet food. JD Pet recommends Patnor Complete Nutrition Freeze-Dried Raw Meat and Bone Food. It uses an 8:1:1 freeze-dried raw meat and bone formula, making its nutritional content more suitable for domestic breeding environments. Furthermore, cats fed freeze-dried raw meat and bone food experience significantly less stool volume and odor. Other quality choices include Myfoodie Pet Cat Treats Ten-Flavor Freeze-Dried Bucket and WoWo Cat Food Freeze-Dried Three-Flavor Adult Cat Food. Myfoodie Pet Cat Treats Ten-Flavor Freeze-Dried Bucket is a true feast for your cat, selecting nine natural ingredients from around the world and using a -36°C freeze-drying process to lock in freshness. It allows your cat to truly experience the taste of meat, offering a crispy and nutritious treat that satisfies even the most discerning palate. The freeze-dried food can be mixed with their main food or rehydrated to ensure adequate hydration. WoWo Freeze-Dried Three Delicacies Adult Cat Food contains four kinds of meat combined with three kinds of freeze-dried ingredients: egg yolk, chicken, and cod. Each grain is coated with seaweed and meat floss, offering an excellent taste.
The trend towards more refined pet care has led to a surge in pet snack purchases. In terms of nutritional ingredients, there are many types of meat, with chicken being the most frequently mentioned. Pet owners are particularly concerned about the packaging and portion size of snacks. Among snack products, JD.com recommends Myfoodie's universal freeze-dried snacks for kittens. While meeting basic meat needs, the product offers a wider variety of flavors and a convenient and comfortable feeding experience, making it increasingly popular with pet lovers.
The popularity of functional cat food has further spurred the emergence of products for more specific product categories. JD.com Pet recommends Solid Gold High Protein Cat Food in Classic Chicken flavor, which contains three types of active probiotics to ensure gut health for pets. For pets prone to allergies, JD.com Pet offers ONLY Canadian Grain-Free Imported Cat Food for Kittens and Adults in Chicken flavor. This grain-free product has a higher protein content, promoting healthy feline development.
Trend 2: Online Healthcare
In the past two years, pet owners have paid increasing attention to pet health and hygiene, reflected in the high growth in consumption of health care and pet medical products. For example, the Frontline pet deworming and flea and tick treatment package for dogs (internal and external) recommended by JD.com Pet perfectly meets the current pet deworming needs, quickly killing fleas, ticks, and flea eggs and larvae. The Advantage 2% Love year-round deworming gift box can also protect cats from parasites. Meanwhile, pet calcium supplementation is also gaining importance, with Weishi calcium milk tablets becoming the top choice. It contains dual calcium-boosting factors that can penetrate deep into the bone marrow to replenish calcium. Furthermore, addressing pet inflammation and colds is urgent. JD.com Pet recommends Hanwei Pet Mobi New Pet Amoxicillin Clavulanate Potassium Tablets, the first officially approved compound oral antibiotic product for pets in China, a new veterinary drug approved by the Ministry of Agriculture. The combination of amoxicillin and clavulanate has a broad antibacterial spectrum and low resistance. In addition, its good palatability makes it easy for owners to administer the medication independently.
With the current trend of online healthcare, pet owners are happy to solve most of their pets' health problems through simple and convenient online consultations. This year, JD Pet launched JD Health Pet Hospital, providing 24/7 online health consultation services. Pet owners can not only receive comprehensive health management services such as consultations, health guidance, and prescription medication purchases, but also learn and improve their skills through the pet care knowledge popularization section. JD Pet also launched a pet medical insurance card, featuring full-disease reimbursement and an 80% high reimbursement rate, helping pet owners alleviate the financial burden of pet ownership.
Trend 3: Equipment Intelligence
With the advancement of technology, intelligent pet care has entered thousands of households, bringing pet owners a convenient, safe, and technologically advanced experience. Taking pet feeding as an example, even when the owner is not home, a remote feeding plan can be designed using the Hohmann Real intelligent automatic feeder. In the pet water drinking scenario, how to ensure safer and quieter drinking water? Both the Petkit Smart New Generation Ceramic Water Fountain and the Midea Pet Cat Water Fountain offer intelligent solutions. The Petkit Smart New Generation Ceramic Water Fountain features a ceramic body, ensuring safety and non-conductivity. Its filter material has been increased by 150%, providing powerful filtration and healthier water quality. The Midea Smart Pet Water Fountain uses Midea's patented food-grade filter, with an effective filtration time of up to 30 days. Furthermore, the product's water flow design creates a sleep-level quiet operation of no more than 30dB.
Trend 4: Pet ownership becomes more refined
Generation Y pet owners are currently the main force in online pet consumption. Influenced by consumption upgrades and the "appearance is everything" mentality, Generation Y pet owners place greater emphasis on the functionality and aesthetics of products, enhancing the quality of life for their pets in all aspects. Daily necessities and grooming products are high-frequency purchases in pet supplies. Taking the Homan 39-degree Pet Drying Box recommended by JD.com as an example, it allows for comforting, interaction, and fur-rubbing during the drying process, leaving wet pets looking brand new. Product aesthetics are increasingly becoming a "bottom line" for purchases, and the Petkit Smart Automatic Cat Litter Box (Cat MAX) is gaining increasing recognition from consumers due to its simple and elegant design.
Trend 5: Service Diversification
Consumers have a significant demand for high-quality and personalized services, covering the entire pre-sale, sale, and after-sale process. Key service factors influencing consumer purchasing decisions include pet preference, product safety, and ease of return. To address this, JD.com's "Worry-Free Pet Care" service has been fully upgraded, offering a "return if you don't like it, return if you don't like it, return if you don't like it" or "return if you don't like it" service. Even if the product has been opened upon arrival, JD.com still supports returns and refunds.
Trend Six: Pet Diversification
Besides mainstream pets like cats and dogs, more and more users are choosing exotic pets such as aquariums for companionship. This diversification of pet breeds has led to an increasing diversity in pet supplies. Aquarium supplies mainly consist of fish food, fish tanks, and cleaning tools, with a higher proportion being purchased online. Smart aquarium products are gradually gaining popularity. Taking the Fafa Geometric Mini Goldfish Aquarium recommended by JD.com Pet as an example, it adopts a unique "coexistence of breeding and cultivation" concept and a safe 5V low-voltage power supply. It can also achieve automatic cleaning, and the lights, water pump, and feeder can be remotely controlled via an APP, maximizing the freedom of pet owners and making fishkeeping simpler.
The six trends mentioned above are concrete manifestations of consumption upgrading in the pet market, profoundly impacting all aspects of pet ownership. More niche scenarios and demands will emerge in the future. From pet health to pet health management, from pre-sale pet services to one-stop pet living, JD Pet is going all out to create a one-stop, full-scenario, full-lifecycle safe pet ownership platform, providing pets with more considerate care. In the coming year, JD Pet will continue to focus on needs, based on quality, and continuously create value for pet owners.
