An exploratory study on the pet food purchasing behaviour of New Zealand consumers

Abstract

This research investigates the pet food purchasing behaviour of New Zealand consumers. This study seeks to identify all important attributes which are used by consumers to evaluate pet food products. Furthermore, the aim of the research is to understand the behaviour of pet food purchasers, consumer characteristics and identify different purchasing behaviours between cat and dog owners. This research is important due to the global increase in pet ownership and pet care expenditure, the value of the animal-human relationship and the lack of literature on the pet food purchasing behaviour of New Zealand consumers. This research used a structured questionnaire in which interviews were held with New Zealand consumers carrying out grocery shopping in a variety of Christchurch supermarkets. The supermarkets selected had different socio-economic factors in order to best represent the New Zealand population. Consumers were approached and asked if they owned a pet and if so, were they willing to participate in a survey which questioned their pet food purchasing behaviour. The final sample consisted of 103 respondents with a response rate of 59%. The results of the analysis of the total sample revealed pet owners in New Zealand are showing signs of following the global trend of “pet parenting”. Product attributes that were evaluated as most important were nutritional value and palatability of pet food. However, the lowest ranked attribute was the country of origin of the pet food, which does not coincide with the global trend of concern for the origin of pet food. Given global pet food contamination scandals, this could show that New Zealanders are naïve to these events as pet food safety issues haven’t occurred here as of yet. The most popular pet choice was cats, owned by over three quarters of pet owners (respondents). Dogs were owned by half of respondents. The total sample showed that 55 percent owned a single pet while 45 percent owned multiple pets. Biscuit or kibble pet food was found to be the most common type of pet food purchased and purchases were most likely made through supermarkets. Pet owners reported most commonly purchasing pet food on a weekly basis. Theoretical contributions of this study are important and it fills many gaps that exist in the literature. The results include insight in to the purchasing behaviour of pet owners and understanding of the factors that affect their purchasing decisions. Furthermore this study has added to the literature in terms of the characteristics of New Zealand pet owners, involvement with their pets, and their knowledge of pet food. There were several significant practical contributions revealed in this study. Results showed that pet owners more commonly are in higher income and older age brackets and therefore this group can be specifically targeted through marketing strategies. Also, involvement levels showed cat owners to have the same involvement with their pets as dog owners. In addition, nearly a quarter of households owned some combination of both cats and dogs. This highlights the importance of both the cat and dog food markets and that products can be marketed conjointly. The most important product attributes of nutritional value and palatability should be considered during product development and for pet food packaging. Education is another important practical implication, as results showed the naivety of pet owners despite the high levels of pet food knowledge that was reported. Vets were shown to be opinion leaders due to the large percentage of pet food recommendations they provide and they therefore should be used to communicate messages regarding the benefits of certain pet foods to pet owners. The results of the survey showed supermarkets as an important distribution channel, however the literature review also highlighted the growing importance of specialist pet food channels. Although the decision making process of consumers is complex, understanding the reasons behind purchase choice assists pet food manufacturers in developing new products and marketing messages to appeal to New Zealand pet owners.