In 2025, the global pet care market is valued at US$ 207 bn, according to Euromonitor International. The category is resilient, even under the economic pressures shoppers protect their pet spend, with most owners treating pets like family members with pet care being a must have budget.

The three emerging trends in the category to watch:

• Trading up Vs Trading down: shoppers are seeking more value as cost rise but are unwilling to comprising on the core needs of their pets. Retailers are using private and brands to offer a complete range to flex and meet shopper demand.

• Enhanced navigation and segmentation: with the category growing and retailers creating dedicated zones, retailers are creating clearer sub-categories for a better shopper experience. Retailers are splitting aisles to enable for shoppers to navigate type of pet, age of pet and to the specific breed depending on available space.

• Health and wellness: shoppers are increasing becoming aware of more preventive health and functional nutrition, thinking more about gut health, building strong immune systems for their pets, as well as weight management foods and treats to prevent lifelong illnesses.  

This article highlights global examples of where retailers are innovating and creating standout destinations for the category, competing directly with specialist pet care stores.

Auchan Romania builds expert navigation in pet care aisle

Auchan’s Pet zone delivers a standout category experience. The department is built around a wide, clearly segmented aisle, with dogs and cats split across opposite sides for intuitive navigation, and a dedicated ‘Junior’ puppy section adding shopper‑led clarity.

Elevated signage and fixtures with strong retail media create a highly visible and engaging destination area. Auchan’s range offers depth across accessories, premium and organic options, reinforcing its position as a comprehensive one‑stop shop for pet care.

Social-inspired ‘Petagram’ aisle brings playful navigation and standout visibility

Union Coop in Dubai uses Instagram as inspiration for its pet care aisle. Header boards and overhead signage display the messaging ‘petagram’. This fun and lively way to promote pet care plays into the popularity of cute animal pictures on social media.

The aisle uses LED lighting to highlight some of the header boards, which also helps to draw attention to that section of the range. The aisle is divided into dog and cat fixtures, with the dog range highlighted in yellow and cats in purple.

Tesco’s Pet Hubs: bolder navigation, bigger impact

Tesco is transforming its pet care aisle into a ‘Pet Hub’, boosting the category’s visibility with new signage, clearer navigation, LED lighting and digital screens. The retailer backs this with strong value messaging and a wide range of leading and specialist brands. Private label is kept separate from branded bays, creating the space needed to merchandise a broad branded and own-label assortment. Digital screens were used to highlight Tesco’s additional services such as pet insurance, linking benefits to its Clubcard holders.

Real Canadian Superstore strong pet category used to leverage non-food zone

In Canada, Loblaws’ Real Canadian Superstore has launched a refreshed store concept with a stronger focus on non-food. As part of the redesign, the pet category has been moved into the non-food zone, hoping to benefit from the high traffic from the category. The pet area balances value, easy discovery and convenience across the full range. The overall shopper experience is enjoyable and more intuitive with over 500  new pet items available.

How to win in the pet care category

With 97% of pet owners considering their pets to be a part of their family (Pew Research Center 2023), the relationship and behaviours towards the category has changed. With shoppers unwilling to compromise on the nutrition and quality of products purchased within the category.

Retailers and suppliers will need to continue to innovate to show real nutritional credibility, highlighting functional benefits clearly labelled on packaging using evidence-based science. More shoppers will be looking at ingredients, becoming more aware of what their pets are consuming; product packaging should have clear and recognisable ingredients labelled.

With a growing category, it becomes easy to overwhelm shoppers, having clear segmentation will become critical. The winners will have a clear product portfolio, having structuring according to the pet life stage (from puppy to senior), breed of pet, size and health needs (digestion, allergies, gut and weight). 

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