Year In Review: Collars and Leashes

The following insights are powered by Nielsen in partnership with Unioncrate, an artificial intelligence demand planning platform that combines consumer behavior and historical shipment data to predict sales and inventory with up to 91.6% SKU-level accuracy.

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Welcome to Day 14 of Unioncrate’s Year In Review. Today we take a look at the pet collar & leash category’s 9.4% growth in 2020.

Pet Collars & Leashes

• When the pandemic first hit, consumers were focused on stocking up on some of the more critical categories and let collars and leashes fall by the wayside, with the category dropping 1.5% in the 4-week period ended 3/21.

• As the reality of staying home nearly 24/7 set in for many of us, many homes chose to welcome a four-legged addition to their family, or just treat the pets they already had to a new look; in the 4-week period ended 5/16, collar and leash sales grew 27.6%.

• The collar category’s growth reached as high as 22.4% in a single 4-week period, while leashes peaked at a 33.3% spike.

Accessorizing Success

• Project Blu created a line of vegan pet leashes that use apple skins in the material, making them both sustainable and strong.

• The perfect gift for any owner this year, MSCHF has released a collar that can speak for your dog, playing pre-recorded phrases whenever it hears barking.

• Leash brand Wilderdog announced that throughout December, each order placed on its website will donate a pound of kibble to dog rescues in San Diego.

• After announcing last year that it would exchange its cotton uniforms for updated athletic wear for workers, UPS has partnered with two Atlanta-based nonprofits to upcycle the old uniforms into leashes for homeless dogs.

Up Next: Pet Beds

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About Unioncrate

Unioncrate is an AI-powered Integrated Business Planning (IBP) platform that delivers demand forecasts with unmatched accuracy, collaborative visibility, and actionable intelligence—enabling CPG brands to plan and execute agile supply chain strategies at the click of a button.