2019 Global Pet Expo Re-cap! Another year, another incredible Global Pet Expo in Orlando, Florida last week - the 15th show. It is always a busy show for this pet pro, but walking the show floor I kept thinking and saying to peers 'there are a lot of people here.' While it is always a well-attended show, I definitely could see an increase in attendance and people walking the floor. This year Bob Vetere the APPA's president for the last, I believe 15 years, is retiring and the new incoming President Steve King will take over his position. It was bittersweet in the media room to hear Bob's last media brief as APPA president, he will still be involved with the Pet Leadership Counsel and HABRI. Best of luck to Bob and congratulations to Steve King. Congratulations to our members who were there as exhibitors for the first time and for the 7th time! It is always so wonderful to see our pet businesses grow and have that first time at Global. It was an honor to speak again at their Global Pet Expo Academy if you were at either of my seminars, thank you for attending. Statistics: Some of the statistics announced at Global (in the press room) were really encouraging for our industry, our momentum is not slowing down any time soon. At Global this year:
- There were 1173 exhibitor booths this year at Global.
- New Product section was 45,000 square feet. Just the new product section, nuts!
- Over 7 miles of trade show floor - if you walked front to back, side to side down every aisle.
- In 2018, the industry came in at $72.56 Billion dollars, that is up 4% from 2017.
- Pet food area of the industry grew 4.3% to $30.32 billion.*
- Supplies and over the country meds had a 6% growth to $16.01 billion.
- Veterinary spending came in at $18.11 billion, still the second highest source of spending, which grew 6.1%.
- The Pet Services area of the industry actually dropped a bit in growth, 0.8% growth at $6.11 billion.
- Live animal purchases is down 4.3%, $2.01 billion in 2018. (More millennials turning to rescues and shelters! But remember this includes small animals, fish, etc.)