Can Nestle Succeed With a Market Development Strategy in the Indian Pet Food Market?

Multinational pet food giant Nestle has spotted an opportunity in India. Would it be barking mad to ignore the opportunity, or should it paws before making an investment in this market development strategy?

An excellent video below from the FT explains how Nestle, the largest food company in the world, is looking to break into the potentially lucrative Indian pet food sector.

Along with Mars (which already sells pet food in India) Nestle dominates the global pet food industry.

However, whilst the pet food market in the US is worth $27.7bn (the world's largest by a distance) and the UK is worth $4.4bn (still the world's second largest market), the situation in India is very different.

95% of Indian pet dogs are fed from home-cooked food rather than purchased dog food.

However, things may be changing.

A combination of economic change (rising household incomes) and social change (couples waiting longer to get married) is increasing the incidence of pet ownership in India.

Increasingly Indian pet owners are looking to buy pet food. Nestle estimates that the value of the Indian pet food market will double in size in the next 5 years, albeit from a low base (of around $280 million in 2017).

So Nestle is launching its Purina brand in India, which will compete with companies such as Mars and Royal Canin that are already established in India and  currently dominate the pet food market there. Mars and Royal Canin operate mostly through specialised stores and e-commerce.

You can read more about Nestle's pet food strategy here in the FT.