With luxury items like a $ 610 Moncler puffer or a $ 205 Ralph Lauren cashmere sweater for dogs, it was only a matter of time before beauty brands joined the booming pet market.
On Tuesday, luxury hair care brand Ouai launched its pet shampoo, Fur Bébé, for $ 32 on National Puppy Day. The brand originally had a limited edition of the product in 2018, but now the dog and cat shampoo is part of the brand’s permanent collection. It is sold on the Sephora and Ulta websites, on Ouai.com and through other retail partners such as Nordstrom, Amazon and Urban Outfitters. According to Ouai executives, the timing is right as more millennials are becoming pet parents and adoptions are skyrocketing.
“In the last year in particular, so many people have adopted or had pets. Many people work from home, ”said Hannah Beals, vice president of brand marketing at Ouai. “When it comes to people’s pets, they really are like family members and people pamper each other.”
The new product has properties that have a positive effect on the health of fur or skin, such as aloe vera, rambutan seed extract and hydrolyzed vegetable protein. It also has the same scent as Ouai’s regular hair products.
According to Mintel, sales for pet care products and Services in 2020 it was over $ 100 billion. ON survey from TD Ameritrade found that 50% of millennials have considered adopting a pet since the pandemic began.
“We saw more people interested in adoption,” said Lesley Brog, founder of the Los Angeles Wags and Walks shelter, who noted that “there is definitely an increased interest in people seeking companions during the pandemic.” . Jen Atkin, founder of Ouai, adopted her dogs Chewy and Roo from Wags and Walks and promoted the product with them on their social channels after posing for the product with other Ouai employees’ pets in a photo shoot.
Jen Atkins dogs Chewy (L) and Roo (R) at a photoshoot for Ouai’s new pet shampoo. (Courtesy photo)
Animal imagery is a proven route to high social media engagement and Ouai’s “best performing content,” said Beals. That “played a role in the decision to make a pet SKU,” she said. To promote the shampoo, the brand is sending out packages to pets from influencers like Lynn-Kate’s cat Rockefeller. It also gives away to celebrity petfluencers like Bear (@goodboybear), a medium-sized English cream goldendoodle with 113,000 followers on Instagram, and Taco (@ Adventures.of.taco), a Maltipoo with 42,000 followers.
Ouai encourages buyers to pamper not only purebred pets but also adopted pets. It is donating Wags and Walks for the launch and promoting pets that are available for adoption on its Instagram. For the start in 2018, she donated 15% of the proceeds to Lisa Vanderpump’s dog rescue organization.
The “fur baby” shampoo hits Sephora above all products for human babies that may reflect the life priorities of the wealthy millennials who shop there. 2016 data found that three-quarters of Americans in their thirties have dogs and 51% have cats. The US birthrate has now fallen.
“Now it just feels like your pet is walking with you everywhere like a real baby would,” Beals said. 
With consumable income purported to be spent on pets rather than children, millennials have driven the growth in premium dog products. DTC dog fashion and pet lifestyle brand, Maxbone, which is partnering with Ouai to launch a special edition dog toy, saw sales growth of 300% year over year and 8,000 new customers in 2020. The top client spent over $ 9,000. Other premium beauty brands and retailers are also committed to pet care. Department stores such as Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus already stock premium pet shampoos from Kiehl’s and Aesop.
Mintel data from 2018 found that two in five millennials would spend the same amount the gifts for pets as well as friends, and a third of them wanted to buy matching outfits for them and their pet.
Ouai’s 2018 Pet Shampoo was sold exclusively on its website. It “sold out pretty much immediately,” said Beals. “We wanted to bring this back since we first had it. Since then, people have never stopped asking about it. “