MARKET - Where Do Millennials live?

According to Business Insider, millennials are flocking to these 11 US cities in droves:

Charlotte, North Carolina

The millennial population of Charlotte, the biggest city in North Carolina, grew by nearly 11,000 in 2015, the latest year for which there is data.

Click here for the entire article. Where millennials live may surprise you.

FUTURE TRENDS - Millennials Own More Pets than Other Generations

Millennials are, according to Bob Vetere, the President and CEO of the American Pet Products Association (APPA), “a very passionate, active, and connected group” of pet owners.

APPA released their 2017 National Pet Owners Survey at the end of March, and the findings indicate that, for the first time, millennials own more pets than Gen Xers or baby boomers.

Millennials are the generation born between 1981 and 2000, and reading between the lines of the report, it is possible to see hints of a generation leaning on their pets as they struggle with ongoing economic stress.

Some of the key findings from the APPA report are:

·       85% of owners believe pets are a good source of affection

·       82% agree that interacting with a pet can help them relax

·       81% are aware that owning a pet can be beneficial to their own health

·       81% feel unconditional love for their pet

·       61% feel buying a pet product made in the USA is important to them

Many of these findings are encouraging.

Engaged, committed, loving pet owners are good for pets and for pet-related industries. However, when discussing the millennial generation, intentions cannot be teased apart from economics.

Millennials are the subject of heated debate among pundits and professionals.

Are they the most entitled generation? (Probably not.) The most narcissistic generation? The most cautious generation? The most unique generation? The most stressed out generation? The most anxious generation? The most progressive generation?

If nothing else, they may be the most speculated upon generation!

Some of these generational traits have significant implications for the role of millennials within the pet industry.

In 2014, Forbes reported that half of Millennials were living paycheck to paycheck, and three years later, millennials are carrying high debt loads.

Despite the fact that millennials are a passionate generation of pet owners, pet ownership is expensive and millennials are a generation beset by economic insecurity and political volatility.

This economic instability is one reason so many millennials own pets, but not houses.

It is also one reason so many love their pets unconditionally, but are forgoing or delaying parenthood.

But, despite the fact that pet ownership is not as expensive as home ownership or parenthood, economic instability can put pet ownership at risk.

In Alberta, the Calgary Humane Society has seen a significant increase in owner surrenders coinciding with the ongoing economic struggle.

This pattern repeats itself across North America, where economic hardship is a frequent cause of pet surrender.

Despite this, millennial spending on pets is expected to increase in the next year.

Not only are pets being treated as surrogate children by many millennials, there is also the reality of health benefits resulting from pet ownership.

Studies show that pets can help with everything from PTSD to high blood pressure, and with healthcare costs remaining high, pets may play yet another important role for millennials.

Regardless of the pressures facing the millennial generation, their pets are standing by to help.

About Tiffany Sostar

Tiffany is a published academic, an editor with the Editors Association of Canada, an independent scholar and researcher, and a self-care and narrative coach. She is particularly interested in the intersection of technology and identity - how our tools shape our selves and change our stories, and in how the nature of work is changing as we incorporate more technology into our daily lives.

BUSINESS - Pet Tech Investors are Barking up the Right Tree

Pet technology, and the pet industry in general, has been called “recession proof,” citing the fact that during the 2008 financial crisis, the pet industry continued to grow.

Consumer spending overall shrank by 3% during the recession, but pet spending grew at 5% per year.

Those are some convincing, and encouraging, numbers for investors and business owners.

However, investors should still be cautious.

The resilience of the pet industry refers to the sector as a whole, and doesn’t mean that every pet stock will do well.

Investors need to look at each business as a unique and context-dependent case.

Individual companies can still sink if they don’t adapt to consumer demands and rapidly changing economic contexts.

Fresh pet food companies, for example, are subject to thin margins and increasing competition, and two companies – Freshpet Inc and Blue Buffalo Pet Products – have seen their stocks drop significantly.

On the other hand, pet healthcare companies aren’t subject to the same regulatory and policy debates that impact human healthcare, and these companies are doing well.

Pet technology is an area that’s heating up, and worth a close look.

2016 saw a record number of funding deals in this area, despite the overall drop in Venture Capital funding.

There are multiple factors at play that influence the popularity of pet tech stocks right now.

One important element is the millennials.

This is a generation heavily invested in their pets. They’re less likely than their parents to own a home or a car, but they’re much more likely to own a pet.

According to the Washington Post, “Three-fourths of Americans in their 30s have dogs, while 51 percent have cats, according to a survey released by research firm Mintel. That compares to 50 percent of the overall population with dogs, and 35 percent with cats.”

These individuals are marrying later, having kids later (when they have kids at all), and according to research by Wakefield Research, 76% of them are more willing to splurge on their pets than on themselves.

The economy drives some of these trends.

Pets are less expensive than children or houses, and Millennials have grown up with job scarcity and an abundance of student loan debt.

They aren’t big spenders, and they tend not to take big financial risks.

Their pets fill roles that previous generations have filled with both family and career goals and spending.

The other driving force behind the surge in pet technology stock is this generation’s love of wearable tech, integrated tech, Internet of Things, and other digital age devices and services.

Rover, which was the best funded company in the sector in 2016, matches pet owners with pet service providers such as dog walkers and pet sitters.

And BarkBox, which was similarly well-funded, has experimented with all kinds of digitally-integrated services, including BarkBuddy and BarkCam, marketed as Tinder and Instagram for dogs.

The industry, and the economy as a whole, will continue to change in response to global financial pressures and the quirks of the Millennial generation, but chances are good that pets will continue to be a solid choice for investment.

About Tiffany Sostar

Tiffany is a published academic, an editor with the Editors Association of Canada, an independent scholar and researcher, and a self-care and narrative coach. She is particularly interested in the intersection of technology and identity - how our tools shape our selves and change our stories, and in how the nature of work is changing as we incorporate more technology into our daily lives.

RESEARCH - Millennials and Boomers Lead the Pack in Pet Spending

Sales and marketing company Acosta did some research on the growing pet industry, looking not only at pet spending but also consumer behaviour.

“The pet category is an important one, as its total sales surpass popular categories such as dairy and candy,” Colin Stewart, Senior Vice President at Acosta, said in a release.

“Fortunately for brands and retailers, the two largest generations — Baby Boomers and Millennials — also represent the two biggest age groups for pet ownership, which means we can expect continued growth in this category, especially since Millennials are just now entering their prime spending years.”

According to the report, nearly half of pet owners remain loyal to their preferred brand of pet food, regardless of coupons or deals, but they do take advantage of digital tools such as retailer websites or apps to search for sales.

Ninety-four percent of pet owners indicate their pets are part of the family, with 80 percent treating them like children, which makes the report - The Pet Parenting Boom - aptly named.

When it comes to spending for pet owners, the well-being of their animals plays an important role, but so does their own definition of necessities.

Boomers consider toys and treats nonessentials, while Millennials — who are more likely to splurge on pet fashion — label them as necessities.

• Forty-six percent of pet owners report they purchase products they think will provide a wellness benefit to their pets.
• Thirty-six percent of pet owners spend more than $500 annually on pet medical expenses and $200 per year on regular grooming.
• Sixty percent of Millennials purchase nonessential pet items at least once a week, versus 28 percent of Gen Xers and 8 percent of Boomers.
• Sixty percent of pet owners report celebrating their pets’ birthdays in some fashion, which for more than half of Millennial and 40 percent of Gen X pet owners means giving their animals birthday gifts.

“Pet owners shop for their animals much in the same way they shop for themselves,” added Stewart.

“Retailers can apply key best practices in grocery to the retail pet channel as well, including appealing to Millennials, emphasizing health and wellness, and improving convenience to increase shopper loyalty.”

Nearly 80 million households in the U.S. own a pet, representing 60 percent of the entire population.

BUSINESS - Technology and Social Innovation

Social innovation is where Millennials are putting their energy and their money, and the sharing economy is growing.

These two concurrent areas of growth intersect and influence each other, especially since they both rely so heavily on social media and connected devices.

What this means is commerce is becoming more ‘social,’ in every meaning of the word.

More conscious of social responsibility, more enmeshed with socially networked daily lives, and engaged in more and more instances of “sharing” or “gig” economies.

Although this is disruptive to existing business frameworks, it’s also the way forward.

Both social innovation and the sharing economy have been heralded as the solution to a struggling global capitalism.

People are working together for social good, connecting over social media to discuss this and to find brands and services, and using apps and the Internet of Things to connect with on-demand services.

Integration and connection are key focuses. Integration extends beyond using digital tools to facilitate engagement.

Social innovators are blending social responsibility with economic viability in a way that previous generations didn’t.

The binary between non-profit organizations focused on social change, and for-profit organizations focused on the bottom line is getting fuzzy, as more and more entrepreneurs bring their commitment to social responsibility into their business endeavours.

Technology enables this blending.

One recent study by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) found that “the success of [social innovation] initiatives relies on the catalytic effect of technology.”

Social media and the web allow “participation of the public sector at different levels” and the ability to create partnerships across platforms has changed how services are provided.

The sharing economy, which intersects with social innovation in ways that are sometimes symbiotic and sometimes antagonistic, is an example of how technology is changing service industries.

The sharing, or gig, economy means that individuals, like Uber drivers, have access to your information and your personal space.

Trust is a major issue, and not only for workers in the sharing economy, who might drive consumers around, do their shopping, walk their dogs, or clean their homes.

Trust is also an issue for any tech company, according to Ryan Ozonian, the CEO of Dust, a non-permanent messaging system that allows instant communication without a permanently stored record. And, as the JRC study highlights, social innovation companies are, overwhelmingly, tech companies.

“Citizen science” is another example of technology intersecting with social innovation.

In 2011, crowdsourcing allowed the gaming community to solve the issue of accurately modeling a particular molecule to further HIV research, which had stumped HIV scientists for 10 years.

Social entrepreneurs are experts at taking existing technology and putting it to a new use – such as HIV researchers utilizing the existing base of gamers already playing on FoldIt, or organizations like Kiva using existing mobile technology.

Other examples are e-readers being used to increase global literacy, or solar technology being scaled down to make it more affordable and accessible.

Young innovators, a generation of Millennials who are focused on social responsibility paired with economic sustainability, are making waves.

They’re already experts at adopting and adapting technology to their needs, and as they create businesses focused on social innovation, the technology will continue to be an integral part of their work.

By Tiffany Sostar

Tiffany is a writer, editor, academic, and animal lover who came late to her appreciation of pets. At 18, a rescue pup named Tasha saved her from a depression and she hasn't looked back. She has worked as the canine behaviour program coordinator for the Calgary Humane Society, and was a dog trainer specializing in working with fearful and reactive dogs for many years. She doesn't have any pets right now, but makes up for it by giving her petsitting clients (and any dogs she comes across on her frequent coffee shop adventures) extra snuggles.

BUSINESS - Top Insights from 2015 Global Consumer Trends Survey

Euromonitor International reaches out to internet-connected consumers from across the globe with their Global Consumer Trends Survey, then translates the results into comprehensive analysis and actionable opportunities.

While their full report includes key survey findings across all major consumer lifestyle areas, here are six key insights from the survey.

Millennials and Generation Z are leading the shift from computers to mobile. With the rapid proliferation of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, today’s internet-connected consumers have access to whatever they want, wherever they go. Smartphones, in particular, have changed the way consumers interact with the world.

The key to swaying customer opinion is to first convince friends and family. Survey respondents selected friends and family recommendations as their top marketing influence, while independent consumer reviews came in second.

Informed eaters will pay more for healthy packaged food. The consumers with a long ingredient watch-list express a much greater willingness to pay extra for the packaged food features they deem important.

Trust in “Green” labels is growing, but skepticism remains high. Consumers remain largely ambivalent towards ethical and environmental language and claims.

Many consumers struggle to link some health priorities with everyday habits. Sticking with good habits can be easier said than done.

The ability to make time for what matters most is critical for today’s ever-busy consumer. Instead of focusing on saving time, marketers should emphasize the importance of making time, highlighting how a product or service frees up time for the things that matter most.

Learn more about the 2015 Global Consumer Trends Survey here.

Euromonitor International is a leading independent provider of strategic market research. They create data and analysis on thousands of products and services around the world.

BUSINESS - Marketing to Millennial Pet Owners

Move over Baby Boomers!

The Millennials are poised to lead the pack in pet product and service purchasing in upcoming years.

First, they like their pets - with 35.2% of America's 75 million Millennials owning a cat or dog, compared with 32.8% of Baby Boomers.

Additional data, also according GfK at Global Pet Expo 2015, shows another 20% in the generation report they intend to get a pet.

One reason the group – age 18 to 34 - are predicted to take a big bite out of the pet industry market is simply because Millennials are the largest U.S. pet-owning group.

But findings go beyond sheer population and speak to purchasing habits specific to the generation.

Case in point – 63% of Millennials agree pets should be pampered, according to GfK research.

That and other findings add up to good news for industry catering to pets, especially those willing to capitalize by tailoring to expectations the generation has when looking for pet products or services.

Some things to consider when it comes to characteristics of the generation and how they shop are offered by editor-in-chief, Debbie Phillips-Donaldson (on PetfoodIndustry.com and gleaned from the American Pet Products Association's 2015-2016 National Pet Owners Survey.)

Phillips-Donaldson says:

• What's hot and what's not, often according to celebrities, matters when it comes to purchasing decisions for Millennials.
• The latest and greatest in products/services is attractive and if it's customized, even better.
• Those in the generation are apt to spend more on pets than themselves and like to research products, especially on social media, looking for customer reviews and mobile apps for promotions and discounts.
• They aren't prone to brand loyalty, which means they are open to trying new products, and like to buy products which has proceeds benefiting a cause.
• Other distinctions include a preference for raw pet food or recipes focused on pet health and a willingness to do more to care for their pets, like purchasing dental hygiene-related products to care for pets at home.

A recent Packaged Facts report shows those in the Millennial generation are much more likely than those in the 35-plus category to spend more for pet products and over the next few years.

Those in the 40 to 54-year-old age population (which has a high propensity to own and spend on pets) is expected to decline while pet ownership has typically seen a steep decline after age 6o.

So, the target market – if retailers want to focus on that opportunity – is the Millennials.

Something some companies are trying to work with.

UltraPet, for instance, has Neon Litter which is aimed at a generation looking for “fun, function and the ability to personalize,” while pet food company, Zoic, is pushing affordably-priced, new age pet food created by Millennials for Millennials.

By Nadia Moharib

Nadia Moharib is an animal lover who has adopted everything from birds to hamsters, salamanders, rabbits, fish and felines. She has written about all-things-pets for years and was a long-time editor of a pet magazine in a daily newspaper which featured a Q & A column, Ask Whit, penned by her pooch (ghost written, of course.) The serial dog owner lives in Calgary, Alberta and most days can be found at a dog park picking up after her rescue pooch, Scoots.