Pet Parents: How challenger brands in pet care are changing the way we shop for our pets

Picture this…
You’re in the office and you get a notification – there’s a large parcel on your doorstep: Kat Kin for Milo.

First thoughts…
- I won’t be back home for a few hours… isn’t it fresh food? There better be ice in that box!
- You can’t miss it… what will my neighbours think? Does it make me look like I spoil my cat? (I do!)
- Hopefully no one else’s furry friend is hungry… who thought I’d ever be worried about someone stealing my cat’s food?

1. Every opportunity to impress
There’s no denying it; when you unbox one of these pet food subscriptions, you can’t help but smile. These brands use every layer, piece of tape and side of box as an opportunity to interact with us (and our fur babies). From ‘sniff holes’ to personalised messages, these small gestures that surprise and delight make every delivery feel special and makes the mundane task of buying pet food now a memorable moment in our day.

2. Cartier or cat food?
These brands have had to reframe their competitor set and source inspiration from beyond their category as the fight for attention becomes organic.

With a broader frame of reference, brands start to break category rules. These D2P brands feel more for us than our pets; tapping into the lifestyle codes of their audience to build brand engagement and stand out in a saturated, digital world.

Learning from DTC brands in other categories inspires new ways to premiumise, personalise and surprise across the path to purchase… Take Years, the complete pet nutrition brand that feels more like a subscription-based beauty regime than dog food…

3. Make space for me
DTP brands aren’t just changing our perception and expectations of pet food, they are changing our behaviour too. Buying direct to door requires pet parents to feel a little uncomfortable for a (hopefully) short while as they enter the unknown and establish new behaviours, and brands can work harder to help and quickly overcome some of these tensions:

o Reassurance that this box of freshly frozen food can be left out for a couple of hours if delivered whilst we’re away from the home.
o Preparing pet parents for the additional (freezer) space required to adequately store the delivered goods.
o Supporting pet parents to establish new routines

4. Follow their instinct
The truth is these DTP brands won’t become the ‘new normal’ if their product does not live up to the elevated experience they promise to deliver. And our pets will quickly tell us if it’s all bells and (dog) whistles.

So what does this tell you?

5. The new cost of entry…
We’re witnessing a new standard in pet food – one we’re willing to pay a premium for (£40+ p/m on dog food anyone?)… As we become more aware of the pay off (ease, quality, integrity) and our pets’ response to it, a new cost of entry for brands will emerge – in pet care and beyond.