January 30th, 2024, Lesley Simeon
Raising pets demands considerable effort and responsibility to stay on top of their needs. From behavioral training, timely vaccinations, proper grooming to sufficient exercise and rest, and not forgetting diet, the list seems endless.
Focusing on pets’ diets we look at what sources of information pet parents rely on when deciding their diet? In a recent YouGov survey nearly half of pet owners across 17 international markets (49%) cited veterinarian’s recommendations. Personal research follows with 45% of pet owners relying on their own research to make dietary decisions. Three in ten consumers (30%) take advice from friends or family and 28% of them rely on pet food labels and packaging.
Consumers are least likely to rely on online forums and communities (23%) when it comes to deciding on their pets’ diets.
Let’s now look at how the data stacks up across individual markets.
Singaporeans (55%) are the most likely to say they rely on personal research when making decisions about their pets’ diets. Brits (52%), Americans (51%) and Canadians (51%) follow suit. However, consumers in Spain (32%) and France (35%) are least likely to do their own research. In Asia, Indonesians are the least likely to cite personal research as their source of information when deciding on their pets’ diets. Nonetheless, nearly two in five Indonesians (38%) do so.
Nearly half of all consumers in India (49%) and UAE (47%) also rely on personal research to make decisions on their pets’ diets.
As for consumers who rely the most on veterinarian’s suggestions on diets for their pets, Italians lead (71%) followed by Spaniards (63%) at a distant second. On the other hand, less than two in ten Hong Kongers (16%) say they rely on veterinarian’s suggestions – most of them (69%) opt for advice from friends or family to make decisions about their pets’ diets. Hong Kongers are the most likely across markets to say so, followed by Indians (47%). Poles, French and Spaniards (21%) are the least likely to rely on advice from friends or family for decisions about their pets’ diets.
Hong Kongers are also most likely across markets to say they refer to pet food labels and packaging when deciding on their pets’ diets (46%) In Europe, Britons (29%) are the most likely to agree. Danes (19%) are the least likely across markets to say the rely on the information on pet food labels and packaging when making pet diet-related decisions.
Hong Kongers emerge at the top yet again, accounting for the most proportion of consumers who use advice from friends and family for information on pets’ diets (69%), followed by India (47%). In Europe, Germans and Swedes (30%) are most likely to do the same.
Finally, consumers in Hong Kong account for the largest share of consumers across markets (49%) who say they take to online forums and communities to seek information on pets’ diets. Indonesians (40%) and Singaporeans (39%) follow. In Europe, Poles (25%) are the most likely to follow suit.
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Methodology: YouGov Surveys: Serviced provide quick survey results from nationally representative or targeted audiences in multiple markets. The data is based on surveys of adults aged 18+ years in 17 markets with sample sizes varying between 501 and 2004 for each market. All surveys were conducted online in October 2023. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples. Learn more about YouGov Surveys: Serviced.
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