Pet food sales are up as consumers stock up amid the COVID-19 crisis.
Nielsen data showed that dog food sales were up 54 percent for the week that ended Saturday, CNN reports. Cat food sales were up 52 percent. Pet supply sales, meanwhile, were up 24 percent, according to the data.
The trend is playing out in the aisles of mass retailers such as Walmart and pet specialty retailers. Online retailers are also getting piece of the action; Chewy’s, in fact, plans to hire 6,000 workers because of high demand, CNN reports.
CNN quotes a Petco spokesperson saying it’s important for pet specialty retailers to stay open during the pandemic, and Petco has done.
“Mass retailers and grocery stores simply can’t feed all our pets,” said the spokesperson.
On March, representatives from Petco and many other pet industry companies and groups called on government officials to exempt pet stores from any mandatory closures put into place as a result of the coronavirus. They released an “Open Letter to All State and Local Government Officials Regarding Pets and COVID-19 Precautions.”
They requested that pet stores be considered “essential retailers” and be allowed to stay open like grocery stores and hospitals.
Read more at CNN