Sector trends: pet ownership

A petcare brand required fresh insight into the challenges affecting its sector. The resulting study began with an examination of the landscape and then dove into the ways that pets are becoming surrogate children in the increasing proportion of child-free households.

Attitudes to ownership have changed too, with “adoption” seen as a more socially acceptable word, even when the animal is acquired young, and the claiming of a moral high ground by people visiting rescue centres instead of breeders.