Background and Purpose

Transcription

1 Background and Purpose xiii

2 APPA S NATIONAL PET OWNERS SURVEY The American Pet Products Association (APPA) was established to promote, develop and advance responsible pet ownership and the pet products industry. To this end, APPA supports industry-related market research, monitors and responds to industry legislation and regulation and sponsors educational seminars, networking and PR opportunities, giving members the tools they need to make important business decisions. APPA also works closely with other major organizations dedicated to similar goals to accomplish these and other important objectives. In 1988, APPA began gathering information about pet ownership, pet care practices, purchasing behavior of petrelated products and sources of pet-related goods and services. A similar study has been conducted every other year since The current study was conducted in late 2007 and is the eleventh in the series. APPA s objective is to monitor consumer habits on an on-going basis to identify short and long-term trends in pet ownership and pet product and service consumption. In order to maximize the full value of the report, we urge all readers to read beyond the Executive Summary and thoroughly read each of the species sections. METHODOLOGY AND SAMPLE The National Pet Owners Survey was conducted by Ipsos, Inc. As in previous years, this research was conducted in two phases. The first phase, or screening, was done through InstaVue, Ipsos monthly omnibus mailing. Fifty thousand (50,000) two-page interviews were mailed out in July 2007 and 31,677 panel members responded, yielding a return rate of 63% of which 19,530 or 39% of the responding panel members were current pet owners. The panel of pet owners is representative of all pet owners in the U.S. In the second phase of the study, 3,855 pet owning Ipsos panel members were mailed a detailed questionnaire about pet ownership in one of eight categories: dogs, cats, birds, small animals (such as rabbits and guinea pigs), reptiles, freshwater fish, saltwater fish or horses. Eight different questionnaires, one per pet category, were mailed out to groups of owners of each specific pet type. Panelists were given six weeks to complete and return the questionnaires. By the final closing date, a total of 2,695 usable returns (70% of the mailout) were received and are included in the tabulations. The table below shows the number of each questionnaire type mailed out for the follow-up phase and the number of completed returns. The number of completed returned questionnaires is sufficient to measure statistical significance. Pet Type Mail Outgo Completed Returns Return Rate Dogs % Cats % Freshwater Fish % Saltwater Fish % Birds % Small Animals % Reptiles % Equines % Ipsos has over 40 years of experience in managing consumer panels. Their Home Testing Institute (HTI) Consumer Panel is balanced geographically and demographically to represent the U.S. population. Ipsos has a unique approach in that unlike other researchers who select a panel balanced on geographic Census targets, the HTI panel is balanced by household size information. This is because research has shown that household size information is more significant in determining marketplace behavior than are geographic factors. Ipsos has also developed a special panel balancing system. Demographic groups that are less likely to return the surveys are over-represented in outgoing samples and demographic groups that tend to over-return are underrepresented. This provides a balanced return sample (those completed interviews that are returned to Ipsos) and eliminates the need to weight the data. Ipsos Consumer panel is broken into nine geographic regions. A map showing the states that comprise each region may be found at the end of this section. xiv

3 QUESTIONNAIRE REVISIONS As in 2006, a questionnaire revision process was conducted for the Survey. At the same time, considerable effort was made to maintain consistency across the questionnaires to preserve trends wherever possible. Therefore, while most of the data can easily be compared with data collected in the past, there are instances where it cannot be compared to previous years. These changes are noted within each report section. For example, the list of outlets where pet owners shop for pet care products now includes Pet Boutiques. Though the revision is subtle, it may have caused small changes in the percentage of pet owners responding they shopped at the outlet type. Other revised questions did not yield differences in responses, allowing comparability between years. Copies of the questionnaires for each pet type can be found at the end of each species section of this report. (Please note that in order to accommodate the complete questionnaire, which was printed in legal size, some changes had to be made to its format.) DELIVERABLES Ipsos delivered the data on paper by one or two banners depending on pet type. The data were also delivered electronically via Quanvert. MARGIN OF ERROR The margin of error is based on the rate of response for each questionnaire version. It should only be used for binomial or yes/no responses. These margins cannot be used for questions with means, as they have a confidence interval, which depends upon both the variance and sample size. Within the report, the percentages shown might vary by the margins (or number of percentage points) noted below if all pet owners in the U.S. were interviewed. Pet Type Margin of error j Dogs +/- 2.2% Cats +/- 2.4% Freshwater Fish +/- 3.7% Saltwater Fish +/- 8.7% Birds +/- 2.9% Small Animals +/- 3.8% Reptiles +/- 3.5% Equines +/- 3.3% j Plus or minus number of percentage points. FOOTNOTES Several footnotes appear at the bottom of certain tables and pages. When an arrow or arrows appear (ß à) it signifies that the percent is significant over the percent it is pointing to in the next column, at the 95% level of confidence. An asterisk (*) denotes that the percent is less than 0.5%. Certain columns will add up to more than 100% due to multiple responses or total less than 100% due to either rounding or don t know/no answer which may not be shown on the table. All of the tables start at the earliest year (where possible to include) with the most recent data being shown last (the last column on the right). In order to maintain comparability and to allow comparisons across the species, the data in common questions are not rank ordered. When no percent is noted on a graph/chart, the percent was 0. The 0 percent was deleted to make the graph/ chart easier to read. CUSTOM REPORTS Additional proprietary custom reports are available based on the Survey, as well as earlier Surveys to monitor trends. Please call APPA s Member Relations department for information about the types of reports that are available. xv

4 DEMOGRAPHICS At the end of each species section there are demographic tables. The first column reports the demographics of the Total U.S. Sample which includes all of the panelists who returned a questionnaire (31,677 of the 50,000 that were mailed out). These 31,677 questionnaires include both pet owners and non-pet owners, in order to have a balanced sample of the U.S. population. These demographics were then used as a benchmark to which specific pet owner demographics were compared. The demographic tables include and compare the demographics of the Total U.S. Population to the Total U.S. Pet Owning Population. Each report also compares the demographics of all species-specific pet owners in the U.S. to the sample of pet owners from the follow-up Survey. The Executive Summary also includes the demographics of previous pet owners and non-pet owners. STORE TYPE DEFINITIONS To help answer certain questions, this list was included at the beginning of each questionnaire to ensure a common understanding of the definition of each store type. TYPE OF STORE EXAMPLES Deep Discounters...Dollar/99 cent stores, Big Lots, Odd Lots, Job Lots, Ollies, Building 19 Discount Store/Mass Merchandiser Fred Meyer, Petland Discount, Kmart, Meijers, Target, Wal-Mart Drug Store CVS, Eckerd, Genovese, PayLess, Revco, Rite Aid, Walgreen Feed/Agricultural Supplies Agway, Mill s Feed Grocery Store A&P, Food Lion, Kroger, Safeway, Super Valu, Stop N Shop, Von s, Winn-Dixie Home Improvement/ Hardware/Garden...Ace, Home Depot, Lowes, Pergament, Servistar, ern States Co-op, True Value Internet...PETsMART.com, PETCO.com, Walmart.com Mail Order Catalog...Foster & Smith, J.B. Pet Supplies, New England Serum, Omaha Vaccine, R.C. Steele Pet Boutique A high-end luxury pet store Pet Store...A locally-owned, independent store selling pets and/or pet supplies Pet Superstore...PETCO, PETsMART, Pet Supermarket, Pet Supplies Plus, Superpetz Warehouse Club B.J. s, Price Club/Costco, Sam s Club Other Any outlet type not named above xvi

5 West United States Census Regions Midwest east Pacific Mountain West East Mid New England West East Pacific Mountain West West East East Mid New England California Oregon Washington Arizona Colorado Idaho Montana New Mexico Nevada Utah Wyoming Iowa Kansas Minnesota Missouri Dakota Nebraska Dakota Arkansas Louisiana Oklahoma Texas Illinois Indiana Michigan Ohio Wisconsin Alabama Kentucky Mississippi Tennessee District of Columbia Delaware Florida Georgia Maryland Carolina Carolina New York New Jersey Pennsylvania Connecticut Maine Massachusetts New Hampshire Rhode Island Vermont Virginia West Virginia xvii

6