APPA reports pet spending increase in 2012

Americans continue to spend money on their pets year after year. Pet spending surpassed $53 billion in the United States in 2012, according to the American Pet Products Association. 

Total spending increased from $50.96 billion in 2011 to $53.33 billion in 2012 and the APPA projects a steady 4.1% growth rate through 2013. Pet food topped the expenditure chart in 2012 at $20.64 billion (3.9% increase over 2011) though pet services experienced the largest percentage growth last year, rising 9.7% over 2011. 

As pet owners continue to pamper pets, their spending in services alone was $4.16 billion. This includes grooming, boarding, pet hotels, pet sitting, day care and other services. Of all categories, it is projected that pet services will see the largest solid growth once again in 2013 at 9.1%. 

"We are noticing several trends contributing to the growth of the industry," said Bob Vetere, APPA president and CEO. "These trends include the positive impact of pet ownership on human health, which we expect to continue to fuel the pet industry sales for years to come."

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APPA Reports US Pet Ownership at Record Levels

Pet Ownership as a percentage of the U.S. population
APPA 2013-14 National Pet Owners Survey

Pet ownership in the Untied States is at a record high, according to the American Pet Products Association's 2013-14 National Pet Owners Survey. 

The survey indicates that pet ownership among all U.S. households is 68%. This equates to 82.5 million pet owning households in 2012. 

"As an industry, we have been working very hard to promote the joys and benefits of responsible pet ownership and we are thrilled to see that more people are opening their homes and sharing their families with pets than ever before," said APPA president and CEO, Bob Vetere. 

Dog ownership swelled to 56.7 million households, while cat ownership grew to 45.3 million. these gains in dog and cat owning households mean the total number of pets has also increased. The current Survey reports a total of 83.3 million dogs and 95.6 million cats in the U.S. 

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Companion Animal Industry in Numbers

A recent article published in AM New York stated that "not even the brutal economy... stopped people from spending tons of money on their pets."

Here is a mash up of Industry Numbers: 

$53 Billion
Annual Pet industry expenditures  According to American Pet Products Association (APPA), this number rose every year through the 'Great Recession'. 

$41.2 Billion
How much pet industry expenditures rose in the last five years, almost a 30% increase. 

$4.1 Billion
The amount spent on Natural pet products in 2012. 

$2.3 Billion
The estimated value of the Chinese Companion Animal industry in 2012. A 20% increase over expenditures in 2010. 

46 Million
How many American households own a dog.

38.5 Million
How many American households own a cat.

$2,500
The amount people spend on their dogs each year, according to the American Kennel Club. 

$655
The average amount dog owners spend each year on health care, according to an APPA survey.

$248
The amount spent on a routine checkups. 

$274
The annual amount spent on kennel boarding.

$254
The annual amount spent on pet food for each pet. 

Canadian Texting Explodes Past 2011 Records

According to the Canadian Wireless Telecommunication Association (CWTA) Canadians sent 71.5 billion text messages in the first nine months of 2012.

This Canadian text traffic represents more than 90% of the 78 billion messages sent in all of 2011. In September 2012 alone, Canadians sent approximately 274 million messages per day amounting to 8.2 billion messages for the month.

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Special Holiday Stats: Approximately 424.5 million text messages were sent by Canadians on Christmas Day (December 25, 2012) and another 429.4 million text messages on New Year’s Day (January 1, 2013).

Sorting out how to message/communicate with stakeholders in this environment is a challenge every enterprise faces. On the other side, protecting lips while sipping from the fire hose becomes the issue for consumers.

NINE-MONTH TEXT MESSAGE TOTAL REACHES 57 BILLION

CWTA reports the total number of person-to-person SMS text messages sent in Canada during the first nine months of the year totaled 57 billion, already surpassing the 2010 full-year total of 56.4 billion messages. 


In September 2011 alone, text messages sent totaled 6.7 billion, or approximately 224 million per day.


Review CWTA’s updated text messaging statistics

Ipsos finds 50% of all Canadians Now Have a Social Networking Profile

Canada’s Love Affair with Online Social Networking Continues

• Sixty Percent (60%) of Online Canadians, or One-Half (50%) of all Canadians Now Have a Social Networking Profile
• Facebook Dominates Canadian Social Networking Landscape, but Twitter, LinkedIn Quickly Gaining Ground

If you want to learn how Canadians are communicating and interacting online, look no further than social networking sites. According to Ipsos’ most recent Canadian Interactive Reid Report special feature on Social Networking, one-half of all Canadians (50%) and the majority of online Canadians (60%) now have a social networking profile.

Social networking is no longer the exclusive domain of youth, either. While younger online Canadians aged 18 to 34 years (86%) are the most likely to have a social networking profile, other age groups are not getting left behind, as a majority (62%) of those aged 35 to 54 now have profiles and a good portion (43%) of those 55 years and older have one too.

While the number of Canadians with a social networking profile has only increased by 4 percentage points in the last two years, what is more significant is the dramatic increase in the frequency in which they are using social networks. Nearly one-half of online Canadians (45%) are now visiting a social networking site at least once a week, and 30% visit daily, which compares to 35% who were visiting weekly, and 19% who were visiting daily this time last year. Momentum continues to grow as well, as 32% of those who have an online profile admit they are using it more than last year vs. 15% who say they are using it less (53% say their usage is the same).
 
Females have really taken to social networking as females tend to visit social networking sites more frequently than their male counterparts. Online Canadian women are much more likely to visit a social networking site at least once a day than men (37% compared to 24% of men).

“There have been some suggestions in the media recently that social networking is leveling off in industrialized countries,” says Steve Mossop, President of Ipsos Reid’s Western Canada practice. “While the number of Canadians accessing online social networks may be peaking, the engagement in this platform has not diminished. In fact we continue to see dramatic increases in usage.”
 
In Canada, Facebook remains the dominant player in social networking. The vast majority (86%) of Canadian social networkers has a social networking profile with Facebook, a proportion that has remained relatively unchanged since 2009 (85%). But Facebook’s dominance may be challenged from the significant growth of both Twitter and LinkedIn over the past year. During that same period, the number of Canadians with a profile on Twitter has grown exponentially from almost none (<1%) in 2009 to 10% last year, and 19% today. The proportion with a profile on the professional social networking site LinkedIn has more than doubled during the same period from 6% in 2009 to 14% today.

Also significant is the finding that nearly half (48%) of Canadians with social networking profiles ‘like’ or ‘follow’ at least one brand or company through their social networking site. And of those who follow at least one brand, the number of brands followed averages 6.7.

“A new era has dawned in the social networking space,” Mossop continues. “The first five years was about building awareness and usage around socializing, and consumers responded positively. The next five years will be about commercialization of social networking. Companies who understand, and enter this space will gain a whole new way of interacting with and engaging their customers.”

This release is based on the findings of an Ipsos Reid syndicated study, the Inter@ctive Reid Report, fielded in April, 2011. This online survey of 840 Canadian adults was conducted via the Ipsos Online Panel. The results are based on a sample where quota sampling and weighting are employed to balance demographics and ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to Census data. Quota samples with weighting from the Ipsos online panel provide results that are intended to approximate a probability sample. An unweighted probability sample of this size, with a 100% response rate, would have an estimated margin of error of +/- 3.4 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

More information from Ipsos