Halloween this year has been extra special for
pets, with 3.5 million Americans purchasing gifts
for their pets and spending an average of $17 on
each gift - that's about $59.5 million on Halloween products for their
pets.
The American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, a Greenwich-based trade
group, reports that Halloween has surpassed Christmas as the fastest-growing holiday for pet
spending - with 2.5 million more people involving
their pets than two years ago. This fits with the
fact that overall spending on pets is on the rise - more than doubling from $17 billion in 1994 to an estimated $38.4 billion this year.
dog owners spend an average of $13 per gift and cat owners $30 per gift.
In fact, the pet category is bigger in sales than other consumer segments such as toys, jewelry and candy.
With people increasingly treating their pets more
like family members than domestic animals, the trend
is being driven mostly by married couples putting off starting families and baby boomers adjusting to empty nests.
Another factor is that more Americans now have pets
or more than just one pet - about 66% of households
now have at least one pet.
And Halloween isn't the only season when human
holiday traditions are transferred to pets.
Christmas and pets' birthdays are also proving bumper
sales times for shop keepers. More than a quarter of
the nation's dog owners buy birthday presents for
their dogs. However, not all pets are equal... dog owners spend an average of $13 per gift and cat owners $30 per
gift.
