Seeking to heighten experiences, owners turn to lavishly exotic pet food options
Implications - With pets increasingly being treated as family members over mere household companions, everyday pet sustenance is getting a lavish makeover to offer an alternative, human-approved method of nourishment. Providing an air of exclusivity without sacrificing nutritional qualities, gourmet pet foods allow consumers to elevate the dinning experience with both visual and exotic appeal. This speaks to a desire to communicate status through more appealing goods for all aspects of life.
Trend Themes
1. Gourmet Pet Food - The concept of pet food is being revolutionized with exoticness and nutrition, and presents opportunities for development of artisanal and organic pet food.
2. Magazine-like Packaging - Unique packaging designs that resemble magazines, with eye-catching headlines and engaging photography, appeal to pet owners, especially females, and create opportunities for package design innovation and personalization.
3. Human Food-inspired Recipes - Creating visual, texture and flavor similarities to human food in pet food demonstrates its safety for consumption, and calls for innovation in recreating textures and flavors that humans already enjoy.
Industry Implications
1. Pet Food - Pet food companies can research on producing organic, artisanal and gourmet pet food for a niche to premium market.
2. Design and Packaging - Creating eye-catching and playful packaging that mirrors magazines will separate pet food from typical commodity products.
3. Food Industry - Adapting popular superficial textures and flavors to pet foods can improve perceived taste and create new innovative products for the market.
