.Americans Spend More on Pets than Movies, Music & Games Combined
Must-read cover article in BusinessWeek on the state of pets in America. There is also an excellent video Reporters Journal by the author Diane Brady as well as a video news segment on the state of the pet economy.
Here are some nuggets for you busy people
- » Americans will spend $41B on pets this year, more than double what it was a decade ago.
- » In 2007 Americans will spend $10.8B on movies, $11.6B playing video games and $10.6B on recorded music.
- » It is estimated Americans will spend $52B on pets in 2009!
- » About 63% of U.S. households, or 71 million homes, now own at least one pet, up from 64 million just five years ago.
- » There are 88M cats and 75M dogs in the United States.
- » Half of all dog owners say they consider their pet’s comfort when buying a car.
- » Pet owners are now less driven by price than “emotion and passion.” Philip L. Francis, CEO of PetSmart Inc.
- » Pets are now full-fledged members of the family, Ted Rheingold, Top Dog, Dogster, Inc. (They didn’t quote me, I’m just saying this because it’s true ;)
Read the whole article and watch the video Reporters Journal and video news segment.
As a copywriter and marketing consultant for the pet industry, I’ve been following these trends for quite some time.
It’s interesting to note that over the years the pet industry has been steadily increasing. In 1994 it was only worth 17 billion. Thirteen years later, it has almost tripled. On my website http://www.rachelmonroe.com I list numerous pet industry statistics. It’s amazing to see how much people love their pets.
http://www.dogster.com . I love thos site. My dog and I just can’t stay off it… Its that fun!