A new report into the direct-to-consumer (D2C) pet food market has shown how brands are increasingly shifting into the retail sector.
The second edition of The D2C Pet Food Landscape, produced by Polish novel ingredient supplier Proteine Resources, studied the availability of D2C pet food products throughout Europe and found that only 34% of the 202 brands sell exclusively through their own shop, while 20% of brands can now be purchased via a national chain or grocery supermarket, 29% are stocked by independent pet shops or vets, and 14% are listed on marketplaces.
Subscriptions no longer define the category either, says the report, as 69% of D2C brands offer one and only 26% require one. An analysis of pricing found that brands that also sit on a chain or supermarket shelf generally cost the same as the brands that sell only through their own shop.
Kibble is the largest direct food segment when measured by number of products, with 73 kibble brands available in the European market compared to 63 raw, 48 fresh and 18 wet.
Bart Roszkowski, co-CEO of Proteine Resources, said: “We called it a direct-to-consumer report and then found that two thirds of the brands in it do not sell only direct. The webshop is where the brand lives – the independent pet shop, the chain shelf and the marketplace are where a lot of the food is actually sold.”
