The plants and pets connection

In the world of the fickle and mysterious consumer, there are university researchers working diligently to learn what makes the plant consumer tick and what influences their buying habits. This vital endeavor will help the industry across the supply chain, including breeders, growers, marketing agencies and retailers. I interviewed Melinda Knuth from North Carolina State University about a recent consumer survey for the cover story (see page 34). She shared some tidbits from previous research, including a houseplant purchasing report she completed with Hayk Khachatryan from the University of Florida and Charlie Hall from Texas A&M. In this study they surveyed people who purchase houseplants and actively engage in our industry. One of the cool factoids they discovered is the more houseplants they have, the more likely they are to have a pet. This surprised Knuth a bit because sometimes pet owners are quite vocal about not buying certain plants because of their toxicity to plants.

“What I found really interesting was, if they had at least one pet in the home, they were also very likely to be houseplant owners. So, we’re finding that pet parents and plant parents are the same people,” Knuth says. “If you think about it from a responsibility standpoint, people who are pet parents are used to taking care of things, so it makes sense that they're interested in plants, too. While it's not exactly the same as taking care of pet, it's a similar mechanism. You pot them up, you water them, you fertilize them. It's a similar regimen. So, I think that inherently makes sense because of that care and responsibility factor.”

While the study doesn’t have data that suggests how to engage with pet parents to buy more plants, it helps to know they’re often the same people.

“Use that to your advantage. Use pets in your marketing. Highlight which plants are good for pet friendly homes,” she suggests.

And let’s get a piece of that pet supply marketing money! According to the American Pet Products Association, Americans spent $136.8 billion on their pets in 2022, up 10.68% from 2021 ($123.6 billion). The association also reports Millennials make up the largest percentage of current pet owners (33%), followed by Gen X (25%) and baby boomers (24%). And dogs are the most popular pet in the U.S. (65.1 million U.S. households own a dog), followed by cats (46.5 million households) and freshwater fish (11.1 million households). Incorporate some of this into your marketing and social media posts. Let’s get more pet owners interested in caring for plants, too.