The economic scale of China’s pet industry is growing rapidly owing to the market’s strong demand. Data shows that: the size of China’s pet market will reach 493.6 billion yuan in 2022, and the market is expected to reach 811.4 billion yuan in 2025.
As for the segmentation of China’s pet supplies market, pet daily necessities account for 38.8%, pet cleaning and care supplies account for 38.2%, and pet clothing and travel supplies account for 16.9%. It can be seen that at this stage, Chinese pet owners pay special attention to pet cleaning and care, makeup, … In addition to satisfying the basic physiological needs of pets, these new categories are becoming the new growth point of pet supplies.
Among Chinese pet owners, the shopping frequency of pet products is 1-4 times on average per month. Pet food, supplies and medical care are their main consumption products. 88.3% of Chinese pet consumers spend more than 500 yuan per year; the higher the disposable income they have, the more they spend on pets.
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As consumer demand increases, pet supplies and food are more diversified and refined. Pet food is no longer limited to satiety, but to strengthen pets’ nerves, immune system, bones and joints, etc.
China’s pet market consumer groups
Since 2013, the number of registered marriages in China has started to decline year by year. Singles like to live with pets, for pets can bring them companionship. Therefore, singles are a major force driving the development of the pet industry in China.
On the other hand, China’s population over 60 years of age has been increasing since 2014, with nearly 270 million people by 2021. Many elderly people feel lonely, and having a pet can improve their sense of well-being.
Pet product consumption tendency
At present in China, there are incidents of pet food being “toxic”. Therefore, most pet owners believe that imported brands still have a great advantage in terms of product quality. As long as they have a sufficient budget, they prefer to buy imported pet products.
This phenomenon can also be seen from the data of recent Chinese shopping: the top five cat food sales on the Tmall platform are all imported cat food from well-known brands.
Access to information for Chinese pet food consumers: social media
In China, social media platforms and integrated e-commerce platforms are the main ways for Chinese pet food consumers to obtain information. E-commerce platforms present pet food production dates and recipes in a more intuitive and easy-to-buy form. The content shared by KOL/KOC on platforms such as Little Red Book and DouYin is more likely to initiate consumers’ desire and facilitate a transaction.
In China, 72.1% of pet food consumers purchase from offline pet stores and 64.4% from e-commerce channels. Under the influence of epidemics and new consumption patterns, pet owners are more willing to stock up on pet food and supplies during promotions from 2020. So eyeing the pet industry’s long-term development, omnichannel operation is the trend.
How pet supplies are digitally marketed in the Chinese market
Little Red Book
In China, when it comes to social media apps for young people to gather, Little Red Book must be the first that comes to everyone’s mind. As China’s most popular platform for product recommendation and shopping experience sharing, Little Red Book has gathered a large number of young users with high spending power and strong consumption desire, including a large number of “cute pet influencers” who live in big cities.
In Little Red Book, the average daily search volume of the pet industry reaches more than 2 million times a day. Among them, cat-related searches reached more than 1.1 million times, and dog-related searches exceeded 670,000 times. In addition, the pet-related notes in this platform have reached more than 9 million, pet-relevant topics include: pet feeding, pet wear, pet cleaning as well as medical care.
Undoubtedly, Little Red Book has become the best marketing place for pet brands! Brands can use its precise targeting mechanism for efficient marketing, such as finding KOL/KOC, live-streaming with products, and participating in pet sharing topics.
In addition, brands can establish their own accounts and e-stores in Little Red Book. They can observe market trends and traffic data in a timely manner, and adjust marketing strategies accordingly.
WeChat, the largest social media platform in China, now has over 1.1 billion active users per month. Chinese consumers believe that when companies have WeChat Official Accounts, it means they can get more professional and comprehensive information and views. And after users subscribe, WeChat’s push mode enhances user stickiness and increases brand exposure. Therefore, WeChat Official Account is an inevitable step for companies to enter the Chinese market for trust endorsement.
Through the public number, brands can publish various contents, activities and communicate with customers, tell brand stories and popularize pet knowledge. The content is also easier to spread among family and friends through the WeChat platform.
DouYin (Chinese TikTok)
In addition to brands creating their own short video content, or joint KOL soft ads (blind advertising), the “live pet celebrity” or “live streaming + promotion” format can also make pet products achieve a high conversion rate.
Since the volume of a brand affects consumer perceptions and further influences consumer choices, and since there is no absolute oligarchy in the DouYin pet market, most new brands have the opportunity and need to enter DouYin for development.
Sales channels of pet products in China
How to sell (offline dealers and shopping platforms)
Distributor
For brands that are new to the Chinese market, it is also a good option to grant full authority to a distributor in China. This is because distributors generally have their own more established sales channels. In China, offline pet stores and supermarkets are still an important sales channel for pet products. A good distributor can use their original sales network to quickly spread the goods to the end market, buying time for the brand to capture more market share.
Tmall
Tmall Flagship Store
Tmall is the online mall of Alibaba Group; Tmall International is the online import retail platform of Alibaba, which provides overseas original imported goods directly to Chinese consumers. It features 100% genuine goods and 7-day no-condition returns. This has led to a high level of trust in Tmall among Chinese pet owners who are often attacked by fake products.
For pet brands, establishing their own official flagship store on Tmall is an excellent choice. Brands are vetted and pay the appropriate fees to have a store on Tmall, which is controlled by the brand to build, manage and operate the store.
Tmall Self-Employed
If pet brands want to sell their star products in China, Tmall Self-Employed is a good choice. Tmall Self-Employed is the equivalent of an online supermarket, where brands can sell their goods directly to Tmall, which is then solely responsible for sales and service.
Jingdong
Jingdong International is a brand belonging to the Jingdong Group, which focuses on cross-border imported goods business and has earned a very high reputation among Chinese consumers for its efficient logistics. Jingdong has also created a professional shopping platform for international brands for imported goods.
Jingdong Self-Employed.
Jingdong self-operated from the pet brand manufacturers unified purchase, shelves for sale, the brand can enjoy the logistics and after-sales service of Jingdong self-operated.
Brand flagship stores.
Brands pay a fee to use the Jingdong platform to open a store, in addition to managing merchants and customer service (refunds, complaints, etc.), Jingdong is not involved in specific operations.
The product is always the root of a brand. At the same time, the brand needs to establish its own brand culture, identify market segments, find product differentiation advantages, set up a good marketing strategy and cooperate with an appropriate publicity rhythm. Only by doing these things can a quality product successfully take the brand to the vast Chinese market and into the hearts of Chinese consumers.
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