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Sometimes I find the most interesting financial news is not the latest economic data points that get regurgitated relentlessly by authors and TV personalities but rather what they’re not covering.
Scotland Yard detective: “Is there any other point to which you would wish to draw my attention?”
Sherlock Holmes: “To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.”
Scotland Yard detective: “The dog did nothing in the night-time.”
Sherlock Holmes: “That was the curious incident.
Silver Blaze. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
For example, here are two headlines from the depths of the recession:
“Foreclosures Lead to Abandoned Animals”
USA Today. January 29, 2008
“In recession, pets go homeless in droves. Overwhelmed Indiana shelter euthanizes 600 animals in one month”
MSNBC. November 24, 2009
I haven’t seen any headlines or stories like these recently. Is it because pet owners have already abandoned all their pets or rather, what I believe is the case, the economy is getting better and pet owners now have the financial resources to take care of their pets.
According to the American Pet Products Manufacturers of America (APPA) as of 2012 survey, 62% of households have at least one pet and Pet Industry spending in the U.S. increased from $45.5 billion in 2009 to $53.33 billion in 2012 and 2013 spending is estimated at $55.53.
That’s a growth rate of 22% or $10.03 billion in four years!
2012 spending was divided into the following categories: Food $20.64 billion, Supplies/Medicine $12.65 billion, Vet Care $13.67 billion, Live Animals Purchases $2.21 billion and Pet Services / Grooming and Boarding $4.16 billion.
The two largest Pet Specialty Chains are PetSmart with 1,232 stores and Petco with 1,100 stores. Each of these companies has nearly three times as many locations as the next largest chain (Pet Value with 403 locations) and has almost as many locations as the next 22 largest chains combined (1,227)[1].
Petco is private and doesn’t release financial information but PetSmart is publicly traded and reported on March 6, 2013 that same store sales increased 6.3% year over year and total sales increased 11% year over year!
How much we spend on our pets, like many things we spend money on (eating at restaurants, going to the movies, cable TV) is a good indication of how confident we are with our finances and with sales increasing 11% year over year, it appears we are ready and willing to spend our money.
[1] Data as of March 31, 2012