Science and technology empowerment and emotional consumption is reshaping the pet supplies industry, from intelligent monitoring to customized services, a quality revolution around the “hairy child” is quietly coming.
At 6 a.m., Shenzhen’s “post-95” programmer Mr Li was awakened by his cell phone’s reminder – not an alarm clock, but an alert from his smart collar: his Golden British Shorthair cats, Cola, had three abnormal fluctuations in his heart rate during the night. His cat Cola’s heart rate fluctuated abnormally three times during the night. He immediately made an appointment for a video consultation through a pet health management app, and at the same time ordered prescription food and joint care supplements. This seemingly advanced pet care routine epitomizes the changes that will take place in the pet supply industry in 2025.
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- Market panorama: explosive growth and structural change
The pet economy is expanding at an alarming rate. 2025 China’s pet economy as a whole is expected to exceed 811.4 billion yuan, of which the pet supplies market will reach 55 billion yuan, with online penetration rate climbing to 37.5%.
More noteworthy are the structural changes behind the growth: smart supplies track growth rate of up to 34%, far exceeding the traditional categories; senior pet care equipment market size exceeded 20 billion yuan, an increase of 67% year-on-year; and cross-border functional food orders surged 70%, confirming the trend of globalized consumption.
The main consumer has quietly changed – Generation Z contributes 68% of consumption, and Generation Z women have become the core of decision-making. Their average annual spending on pets exceeded RMB 6,000, increased 80% compared five years ago, pushing the concept of “anthropomorphizing pets” to new heights.
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Ⅱ. Intelligent technology: the qualitative change from a tool to a health manager.
Intelligent pet supplies have gone beyond basic functional substitution and entered the depth stage of “emotional interaction + health management”:
– Disease early warning revolution: the smart collar equipped with ECG monitoring realizes 91% accuracy of early screening for kidney disease by analyzing 20 physiological indicators, and sales will increase by 230% year-on-year in 2025. The penetration rate of such products reaches 27%, becoming one of the fastest growing categories.
– Multi-modal interaction devices: smart collars supporting voice and gesture recognition entered mass production, and the accuracy of pet behavior recognition was increased to 92%, enabling the disease warning cycle to advance by 15 days. Fluorite TAMO and other mobile robots can realize whole-house pet interaction, from “observer” to “companion”.
– Data ecological construction: health management SaaS platform access rate of 65%, integrated vaccine reminders, medication guidance and other services. Pet digital twin technology will be commercially available in 2026, enabling personalized health management through 3D modeling.
Intelligent cat litter box analyzes the color change of excrement through image recognition, and the accuracy rate of early warning of urinary system diseases exceeds 90%; the penetration rate of AI nutritional meal preparation function of smart feeder reaches 61%, redefining the standard of scientific pet raising.
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Ⅲ. Consumption upgrade: emotional value and accurate care
When pets become family members, there is a fundamental shift in the logic of consumption:
– The outbreak of emotional consumption: cross-border orders for customized clothing and pet birthday cakes surged by 70%; the average annual growth rate of pet photography, souvenirs and other “emotional carrier” services exceeded 40%. The volume of pet food-related discussions on social media surged 362% YoY, confirming the social attributes of emotional consumption.
– The rise of precision nutrition: vertical functional products such as senior dog food and special food for Ragdoll cats have a price premium of 30%. Royal Canin launched prescription food based on genetic testing, increasing gross margin to 65%; niche meat source products (kangaroo, turkey) are sought after due to hypoallergenic properties.
– Scenario-based innovation: summer heat equipment has become a new blue ocean, Yiwu ice pads sold nearly 50,000 pieces in the first half of the year, cool-sensitive clothing with sun protection; outdoor scenes led to cool-sensitive clothing, cap with sun protection functional products’ sales growing up to 150%. Environmental Protection Biodegradable cat litter market share soared to 38%, and the application rate of marine bio-based materials increased by 10% annually.
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- IV. Channel revolution: social e-commerce and cross-border breakout
The channel ecology is undergoing a profound reconfiguration:
– Content e-commerce dominated: Shake the pet pendant live GMV increased by 280% year-on-year, and the private domain traffic has become a new battlefield. The efficiency of “cute pet daily life + product evaluation” short video attracting flow has increased by 40%, and the content of “ingredient analysis” of B station/Xiaohongshu has attracted the users of technology party.
– New cross-border opportunities: 50% of users in TikTok Shop Southeast Asia place orders through the recommendation page; CATLINK smart cat litter box market share in Europe and the United States reached 15%, with a premium of 2 times the domestic price; RCEP tariff preferences to promote the Southeast Asian market growth rate of 42%, and in 2025 exports to Vietnam exceeded 1.8 billion yuan.
– Platform strategy differentiation: Tmall International occupies 67% of the import share, focusing on 88VIP high net worth users; Jingdong self-supporting focuses on PLUS member repurchase; small and medium-sized merchants take advantage of the Jitterbug’s low margin policy to test the water, and then upgrade to a higher-order platform.
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- The Future is Here: Three Strategic Opportunities and Challenges
Standing at the node of industrial leap, three major trends are worth paying attention to:
- The outbreak of silver economy: China’s more than 30 million elderly pets have given rise to demand for joint care and mobility aids, the market’s compound annual growth rate of more than 60%, and the scale of 2025 reaches 20 billion yuan. Non-slip food bowl, intelligent massage instrument and other categories of growth rate of 89%.
- Deep integration of technology: blockchain technology makes the complaint rate of food traceability drop by 45%; the response speed of AIoT device interconnection is increased to 0.3 seconds; pet gene editing technology increases the effective rate of genetic disease intervention to 90%, and the industry enters the era of precision medicine.
- Globalization Compliance Challenges: EU carbon footprint traceability policy forces enterprises to increase R&D investment by 1520%; North American market requires dual business licenses + product liability insurance in China and the US. Enterprises need to balance innovation investment and compliance costs, the current homogenized competition has led to gross margin compression to 35%.
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The end game of the pet economy is the digital expression of emotional connection — when the collar records the heartbeat of the beloved pet, when the camera captures the moment of pampering, when the customized food continues the time of companionship, technology is no longer a cold and hard device, but a warm bond of life. The competition in the industry is shifting from hardware parameters to emotional resonance, and from functional satisfaction to happiness creation.
Tomorrow’s coordinates: July 10th, Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center will hold a global pet supplies supply chain conference, with the theme of “Intelligent Manufacturing – New Era”, gathering Amazon, Xiaopei Pet and other leading enterprises to discuss the application of AI and cross-border new strategies.
The pet economy at this moment is just like the Shenzhen Bay at the break of dawn – the technological wave and emotional needs converge here, and a warm new sunrise is being raised.
