Pet-products deals announced in the last two months continue a trend in which licensors are looking for voids in the market that they can fill with a focused, differentiated line of merchandise:
- Black + Decker licensed Wagz for a range of smart pet products, encompassing connected feeders, doors, and collars, controlled through the Black + Decker app.
- The American Kennel Club’s latest deal in the pet products area focuses on health and wellness, ranging from dental hygiene and grooming to vitamins and supplements. The G Mason Group is the licensee.
- Goodyear’s new collection of technical car accessories features a range of pet travel products, from carrying cases to walking, grooming, and feeding items. The line, which Goodyear introduced at the AAPEX 2017 auto aftermarket trade show, is produced under license, the company says, although it did not release the name of the licensee.
- PetSmart’s ED Ellen DeGeneres collection of pet products continues to expand, this time with the launch of a new assortment of merchandise for cats, including scratchers, feathered teasers, bandanas, and other feline-specific items.
These agreements further a trend for specialization that has been ongoing for at least three years, illustrated by examples such as Animal Planet’s array with Greenberry, focusing on waste-collection, and PetSmart’s assortment for small mammals, fish, reptiles, and birds under the National Geographic brand, among others.
Meanwhile, although strategic collections such as those discussed here are growing in number, they continue to be joined by an abundance of more novelty-based pet products involving dog and cat characters, musicians, fashion designers, and all manner of other properties.
As these examples illustrate, there still seems to be room on the market for new licensed items, even as the licensed pet-product landscape becomes ever more crowded. Euromonitor predicts that spending on pet products in the U.S. will grow 4% in 2017; probably more importantly for new licensing deals, the online portion of the market continues to increase, with sales up 55% in 2016 compared to the previous year, according to Slice Intelligence.
Online sales accounted for 9% of the $48 billion in total pet products sold in the U.S. in 2016, according to a report published by Packaged Facts, with Amazon alone accounting for $2 billion in U.S. pet-products sales. Thirty-two percent of U.S. pet owners purchase from Amazon, the same penetration as PetSmart and more than the 25% who shop at Petco. Furthermore, 36% of Petco and PetSmart shoppers now say they also shop at Amazon. All of this suggests that new licensed products can enter the category without needing to secure bricks-and-mortar shelf space.
At the same time, traditional retailers seem to be able to find spots for new items as well, especially for pet collections that can find some way to differentiate themselves meaningfully from other products already available.
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