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High pet owner demands for premium nutrition, ingredients, and health benefits require new approaches—from AI to data analytics—while balancing price concerns.
Pet owner expectations for dog food and treats have been evolving rapidly in recent years. This heightened demand for quality, nutrition, and even sustainability is creating a pronounced need in the market for super premium products. As we’ve seen in the food industry, premiumization is beginning to expand from niche to mainstream approach in the pet food industry.
Here’s a look at the pet food trends underpinning this change and strategies for brands to stay ahead.
Ingredient innovation is a major trend reshaping expectations around premium and healthy pet food. New products have been showing up with insect proteins (especially cricket and black soldier fly larvae) for improved sustainability and functional botanicals for health (such as turmeric for joint support). 3% of dog owners bought dog food with insect proteins and 6% with botanicals/herbs in the past year.1
Superfoods, which signal healthiness to pet owners, are also expanding in pet foods—particularly sweet potatoes, carrots, and red bell peppers (with antioxidant carotenoids), blueberries (with antioxidant anthocyanins), spinach (with vitamins and minerals), and flaxseed and chia (with omega-3 fatty acids). Last year, one in five dog food and treat launches featured flax or chia with a grain-free claim.2
Direct-to-consumer personalized pet food is another trend picking up speed. Based on an online questionnaire about a dog’s age, weight, breed, allergies, and health needs, a custom wet or dry dog food is blended from bespoke ingredients, combining meats, vegetables, fruits, and grains, along with vitamins and minerals. In response to this interest, retail brands have also been increasing personalization, especially by age and health conditions.
This includes dog food that provides proactive support of age-related and breed-specific conditions like joint and heart health, as well as reactive support to improve digestion (e.g., with pre-, pro-, and postbiotics and allergen-free formulations) and skin/coat health (e.g., with omega-3 fatty acids). Among dog owners, one in five is influenced by pet foods customized by age and one in seven by those customized for specific health concerns.3
We’re also seeing environmental sustainability as a factor gaining significant importance to pet owners. More than half of pet owners prefer pet food brands that work to limit environmental impact (56%) and want to know where pet food and treat ingredients are sourced (69%), with rates even higher among Gen Z and young Millennials.4 56% wish pet food packaging was easier to recycle.5
| 18-34 | 35-54 | 55+ | |
|---|---|---|---|
| I want to know where pet food and treat ingredients are sourced from | 74% | 70% | 62% |
| I prefer pet food brands that work to limit environmental impact | 68% | 56% | 41% |
| I wish pet food packaging was easier to recycle | 67% | 59% | 43% |
In response, many brands are looking at more sustainable proteins, especially plant-based proteins like chickpea and pea protein. Though penetration is still low, the share of North American pet food launches with plant-based claims (+73.7% CAGR, 2018-2022) and vegan claims (+35.8%) has been growing quickly.6 Other brands focus on packaging, including recyclable, biodegradable, and compostable materials, and using less plastic.
As interested as today’s pet owners are in innovative ingredients, customization, and sustainability, the claim that most influences them when choosing dog food is complete nutrition.7 However, palatability is the key to delivering that nutrition, ensuring repeat purchases, and meeting expectations for a super-premium product that excites pets and their owners.
Technology is poised to play a central role in addressing optimization challenges like this. In particular, integrating artificial intelligence and data analytics in product development promises to streamline the formulating process, by determining taste and texture attributes and levels needed for a delicious product that maintains freshness longer.
Perhaps the biggest challenge in offering the level of premiumization pet owners are coming to expect is price constraints. 56% of US pet owners are influenced by product affordability,8 with 42% choosing their main pet food retailer based on price,9 and 49% considering switching to a lower-priced brand due to financial struggles from inflation.10 Brands must balance premium quality with price sensitivity by demonstrating value, for example, through added health benefits.
In fact, the trends dog owners most look forward to seeing in the years ahead for pet food and treats are those with functional health benefits (such as digestive or joint health benefits), with more than half (52%) looking forward to this.11
Expect much of the upcoming functional ingredient innovation to be in treats, in particular, since dog treats/chews are the single fastest-growing segment in pet nutrition globally (est. +6% CAGR, 2022-2025),12 though calories must be kept in check due to rising pet owner concerns about their pet’s weight. Processing methods are also likely to become important to pet owners, mirroring that trend in human food.13
As evolving pet owner expectations make super premium the new norm, brands must find ways to deliver value by featuring healthful ingredients—from functional botanicals to superfoods—that are personalized as much as possible by age and health needs, and preferably with meaningful sustainability actions, whether through ingredient sourcing or packaging. Communicating this value through effective marketing strategies will be essential.
Count on Glanbia Nutritionals to support your future product innovation in pet foods, treats, and supplements with our pet nutrition solutions. We offer proteins, bioactive ingredients, micronutrients, custom nutrient premixes, flavors, and unique plant-based solutions like our PetFlaxTM Kibble Binder to facilitate high meat inclusion rates in grain-free formulations.
Contact us to learn how our ingredients can give you the nutrition, taste, and texture you need to give your next product a premium touch.
