I spent 10,000 yuan on my cat's New Year celebration: six dishes and one soup, a dedicated caregiver, and smart feeding

The trend of pet consumption is gaining popularity on online platforms. For example, during the Spring Festival, some pet owners paid a high price to take their pets home or back to work. Pet services such as door-to-door feeding have also become popular services. With the trend of pet consumption becoming popular, platforms and brands have also taken advantage of it to do more business.

In recent days, as work resumed after the Spring Festival, I found that many friends were urgently posting "people looking for cars" information on social platforms. I thought they didn't get the tickets, but who knew it was the "poop shovelers" who wanted to take their furry children back to work.

Xiaobai, a colleague of Duzhu, returned to Inner Mongolia from Beijing a few years ago. It only took 3 hours to take the high-speed rail at 240 yuan per trip, but for the sake of his cat at home, he took a ride that was twice as expensive and drove for 8 hours back home.

"During the nearly 10-day holiday, the cat is not only lonely but also unsafe at home. Even if there are cameras, I'd still worry if something happened to it and I'm not around." Xiaobai said that there was also a dog and a cat in the ride she took at the time. The cat owners took into consideration that the prices of home feeding have increased across the board this year, so they might as well spend some money and time to bring their pets home.

Workers who really can't take their pets home will also buy various New Year's items for them. Saya, who specializes in door-to-door feeding services in Beijing during the Spring Festival, told the owner that she received a special order this year to accompany the customer's cats during the Spring Festival, including pasting Spring Festival couplets, wearing new clothes, and eating New Year's Eve dinner.

While pet keeping is becoming more refined, it is also moving towards intelligence, with everything from automatic water dispensers to smart cat litter boxes.

The owner of the website also found that pet gift boxes have become a new trend in New Year's goods consumption. Xiaoxu, a white-collar worker born after 1995, also said that giving New Year gifts to friends has always worried him. In the past, he would give them local specialties, nuts and other New Year's goods. But when he accidentally saw a cat New Year gift box, which included pet dumplings, glutinous rice balls, cakes, and various toys and cat scratching boards... he immediately placed an order for his friends who have cats around him. It was unique and touched the hearts of his friends.

1. Exquisite: from sufficient water and food to six dishes and one soup, from washing well to graded beauty

"Usually the orders I receive are for door-to-door feeding, with an average price of 100 yuan per order. Until I saw a guy on Xiaohongshu who quoted me 1,000 yuan, hoping that I would spend the New Year with his cat 'Rou Rou' and prepare a New Year's Eve dinner for him." Saya said that she thought it was very novel at the time, and since they lived close to each other, she agreed.

"Upper couplet: Bring in wealth and good fortune every year; Lower couplet: A fat cat brings prosperity to the family and everything goes smoothly; Horizontal banner: What a wonderful cat house." On the afternoon of New Year's Eve, Saya first pasted mini spring couplets on Rourou's cat bed, and then dressed it in the "red overalls", the New Year's uniform prepared by its owner.

Online, Rourou's owner gave Saya a list of New Year's Eve dinner: Braised Ostrich, Joy on the Berry, Great Rabbit, Resonance of Spring Dawn, Golden Rooster Heralds Good News, Abundance Every Year, and Hibiscus Mussels, a total of six dishes and one soup.

Saya followed the recipe and found out that the Dazhanhong Rabbit was freeze-dried rabbit meat and mussels, the Resonance Spring Herald was coconut chicken soup, and the Braised Ostrich was freeze-dried ostrich cranberries... After taking care of Rourou for the New Year's Eve dinner, Saya placed the New Year's red envelopes next to Rourou, took a photo and sent it to her owner, only then she completed her task.

Rourou's owner is not an isolated case. The latest sales data from JD.com's Pet New Year Festival shows that in 2023, the sales of pet New Year's Eve dinners increased by 64% year-on-year, the sales of pet New Year decorations increased by 115% year-on-year, the sales of pet New Year clothing increased by 55% year-on-year, and the sales of pet Spring Festival couplets increased by 100% year-on-year.

Meanwhile, offline, many pet shops have launched pet New Year's Eve dinners, which are freshly made and ready to eat. For example, in Chengdu, there is a pet-specific baked snacks store, which sells ice cream, donuts, and glutinous rice balls. Some bloggers have posted tutorials on making cakes and pastries on social platforms, which have received over 10,000 likes and collections.

In addition, grooming is a must for pets during the Chinese New Year. Xiao Xu told the owner that he usually feels pain when he spends more than 100 yuan on a haircut, but when it comes to bathing his cat, he will not hesitate to spend 500 or 600 yuan. Before the New Year, he sent his cat to a pet beauty salon to have his nails cut and his foot hair trimmed... As more cats are left behind, the prices are rising, and beauty salons are also offering graded services.

Taking cat washing and care as an example, while long-haired and short-haired cats are divided, primary, advanced, and competition-level washing and care are launched according to different washing and care products and techniques. Compared with primary and advanced cats, which are one wash and one care, competition-level cat washing and care is two washes and one care, with hand blowing throughout the process, and the washing and care products are also more gentle.

On Xiaohongshu, some businesses have also launched door-to-door cleaning and care packages, which provide free door-to-door service within 20km and 24-hour service. This can minimize the risk of cat stress, and the owner can also observe the cat's condition up close through the camera.

2. Smart: Toilets, feeders, etc. provide nearly 10,000 yuan of protection for cats and dogs during the Spring Festival

Cats and dogs that cannot go home with their owners not only live a refined life, but also a smart one. Smart toilets, smart feeders, smart waterers, smart odor purifiers... Even if the home feeding during the Spring Festival cannot arrive on time, cats and dogs can still have a good living environment.

Data shows that in 2022, the overall transaction volume of pet smart products in my country increased by 152% year-on-year. Automatic pet feeders increased by nearly 100% year-on-year, smart pet water dispensers increased by nearly 50% year-on-year, and pet drying boxes increased by nearly 40% year-on-year.

In order to ensure that the cats and dogs at home can spend the Spring Festival safely, Peipei spent nearly 10,000 yuan to purchase various smart pet products before the New Year. He first set his eyes on an automatic poop-scooping smart cat litter box that cost more than 1,000 yuan. The box can monitor the number of times the cat goes to the toilet on a mobile phone, and can also determine which cat in the house it is based on the weight when the cat enters.

The most important thing is to have anti-stuck measures, because there have been reports of cats being stuck to death in smart litter boxes. However, just in case, Peipei bought a camera and monitors it on her mobile phone at all times.

Peipei also found an automatic water dispenser on Taobao that dispenses water by itself and has an automatic purification function. Considering that cats love to drink running water, Peipei thought that buying this water dispenser would definitely allow cats to drink more water, so she spent more than 800 yuan to buy one. But during the Chinese New Year, she watched the camera and found that the cats would rather go to the toilet to drink water than drink water from the water dispenser.

The needs of dogs are more complicated. They mainly need to be played with and walked during the Spring Festival. Some dogs are physically strong and need to be walked for more than 40 minutes. Peipei prepared an automatic retractable leash that can be directly put on the wrist. The length of the leash can be freely extended. There is also a lighting lamp. The most important thing is that it is cold during the Spring Festival, freeing up hands, and making video calls from time to time to observe the dog's situation.

3. Brands and platforms leverage marketing opportunities for limited business?

In fact, for Generation Z, "furry kids" have become an indispensable family member, driving the development of the pet economy. Many e-commerce platforms and brands have seen this trend and have continuously broken through the pet home scene to carry out a variety of pet New Year marketing.

They highlight New Year elements on the packaging, and the products included include both single categories and multi-category combinations, with prices ranging from tens to hundreds of yuan, and sales are good.

For example, the new pet food brand Crazy Puppy launched a New Year's gift box called "Invite You to a New Year's Eve Dinner", which includes canned food, snacks, freeze-dried food, etc., and also comes with red envelopes and couplets. Lan's gift box is divided into two layers, one layer is mainly food, and the other layer is matching New Year stickers and cat scratching boards, as well as mahjong sets prepared for cat owners.

At the same time, there are also many New Year's Eve dinner gift boxes tailored for pets. Pet food brands such as Xiaoxianliang, Mr. Weiba, and Bobo have launched different types of New Year's Eve dinner packages in their official flagship stores, most of which are chicken dumplings or chicken glutinous rice balls as the main food, and are paired with different snacks.

At the platform level, during the Spring Festival, Tmall Supermarket launched a one-stop shopping campaign for pet products for the Spring Festival, with next-day delivery in the 50 core cities. Tmall Supermarket data showed that during the Spring Festival, the growth of high-end pet food, pet snacks, and pet canned food exceeded 50%. At the same time, Tmall Supermarket launched its own brand "Meow Full Score", a canned cat snack without additives. It became the first in the vertical category three months after its launch.

Meituan launched a New Year limited edition cat mansion in the "Meituan Takeaway Cute Pet New Year Festival". The small door on the front allows the cat's head to show out, and there are exclusive Spring Festival couplets. The key is that it can be delivered within 30 minutes.

Preparing various holiday gifts for pets is becoming a new consumption choice for young people. Not only will there be New Year’s Eve dinner during the Spring Festival, but in the future, the business that has been done for humans may be replicated for pets.

Author: 24

Source: Doujiao TMT (ID: ylwanjia), the smell and temperature of new traffic, new technology, new gameplay, and new economy.