Mars CEO Aims to Double Sales by Investing in Pets

In a bid to double its sales, candymaker Mars is upping its focus on pets.

The maker of brands such as Snickers and M&Ms now derives 20% of its revenue from its pet care business, the Financial Times (FT) reported Thursday (March 23) in a profile of new CEO Poul Weihrauch.

Now, he’s projecting that the company’s pet care business will deliver 5% to 6% annual growth over the coming years — faster than the candy side of its business is anticipated to grow — thanks to the evolving role of pets in our lives.

“Forty years ago, a pet was living out in the garden,” he said, per the report. Now, “80% of millennials in the United States sleep in the same bed as their dog.”

Added Weihrauch: “We are older, and we are increasingly lonely. Millennials move into big cities, postpone [having] their first child and have a small dog or cat [instead].”

With just 80% of dog owners and under 50% of cat owners taking their pets for annual vet visits, “there’s lots of growth to go for” in services, Weihrauch said in the report, particularly outside of the more developed markets of North America and Europe.

It’s a vast marketplace, Mita Malhotra, vice president and general manager at Chewy Pharmacy and Healthcare, told PYMNTS earlier this month. The total addressable market is between $40 billion and $43 billion.

One area for growth, she added, is in telemedicine, as just a handful of states allow complete virtual veterinary services.

“Pet telemedicine is a little bit further behind than human telemedicine, believe it or not,” she said, adding: “A lot of times it’s because the belief is that the pet can’t speak, so they don’t have a voice, so you have to have a physical exam.”

However, most vet visits are preventative care checkups that can happen virtually, and Chewy, Malhorta said, wants to be the platform when the trend goes wide.

PYMNTS also examined the way the “‘pets are people too’ mentality” led to a number of retail and veterinary innovations last year in an interview with Jenny Wolski, senior vice president of omnichannel experience at Petco.

“As the relationship between people and their pets continues to evolve, we are constantly focused on customer feedback, understanding trends, understanding what consumers are looking for, and really staying forward in terms of innovation and design and features,” she said in December.

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