Healthy Dog Treat trends in America by State & Metro region 2017

You might ask why trends in America would be of interest in Australia, but the simple fact is that because we follow so many of their trends, its a very important indicator of Australian uptake.

This data is pulled from Google Trends data, so you know that it accounts for at least around 60% of what Americans are searching for online. The reason that I am not putting up data for Australia is that due to the relative small size of our country, there isn’t enough data in Google’s opinion to generate maps or tell you the leading states.

The last article considered the bass model of diffusion and how it can apply to something like healthy dog treats and the uptake of them. The reality is that its not a NEW product so much as a niche within an existing product range that has still to gain significant traction, in Australia at least.

Google trends graphs for both Australia and America show a fairly flat trend search for healthy dog treats, however which states are trending most might have you understand why.  In this article you will see exactly which states and Metro regions in America really care for their dogs with Healthy Dog Treats !

Analysis of Healthy Dog Treats in America, by state 2017

The map of America at the top of this article shows you graphically by darkest blue, which states are most interested in searching for healthy dog treats in America averaged between 2010 to 2017 (June).  You will notice that only TWELVE of America’s states are listed as having any significant search data.

That alone should tell you that this product category has a long way to go before it becomes a significant trend and dogs start eating healthier. Then again, there is the whole debate between what we mean by healthy (100% quality meat dog treats) and what Google is currently throwing up as pictures of ‘healthy dog treat’ examples on its searches, which still mostly are coloured biscuits full of wheat !

You often find that when new trends are at all tied to commerce (ie a premium is paid for a new niche in an existing category) that the more affluent states would tend to be first in the uptake.  They have higher education, higher income, and higher discretionary income.

The numbers next to the state in the table represent the relative search number importance of a term compared to the top state. Hence all numbers are referenced to Pennsylvania which is 100 as a baseline.  By the time we reach Illinois the level of interest has already dropped to 68% of  Pennsylvania’s search habits (per capita).

High income and education levels might be responsible for Pennsylvania, however Ohio, Florida and Colorado are a bit of a surprise. These places are not known as the innovation hubs of America.

Two of the largest population states, with high innovation and incomes are New York (7th place and 68% )  and California at 9th and 57%.

METRO analysis of healthy dog treats in USA shows the real trend 2017

Google trends gives us many amazing tools, but sometimes you have to drill down a bit further than the obvious to understand the underlying trend.  The reason that the state based data seems to be slightly off from the expected, is that it has all trend data averaged over the whole state.

Big states (population wise) can have vastly different demographics and psychographics of its people. This pretty much leads to a large dilution effect so that smaller states that showed some interest, but its an homogenised interest across the state, rated higher than absolute interest and sales might suggest.

Hence the analysis of Metro maps and locations in this section.

From this map you will see a striking difference. While  much of the blue hot spots are still in the same general biggest interest state areas, the Metro map shows the real smaller areas within states that are responsible for the national trend. Again this data is for the highest metro search areas for ‘healthy dog treats’ in America, averaged between 2010 and 2017 (june).

• 1 Colorado Springs- Pueblo CO   100%
• 2 Chicago IL 39%
• 3 Miami-Ft Lauderdale FL 39%
• 4 Washington DC (Hagerstown MD) 30%
• 5 New York NY 33%
• 6 Los Angeles CA 30%

You may know these locations much better than I do, so I will only give possible relationships between locations and their interest in Healthy dog treats.

Colorado’s initiative to legalise Marihuana and same sex marriages shows that it has a progressive innovative location. So much so that in regards to healthy dog treats searches, they are TWICE the search rate of any other metro location in America.

Chicago has gone through a gentrification process over the last ten years or so and with that comes affluence and hipsters, the perfect combination for people a afford better for their pets.

Miami-Ft Lauderdale is both a party scene for the young and a retirement place for the more well off ( Fort Lauderdale for example).   This is a quote from a real estate forum ” because Fort Lauderdale is an ocean front city, we have the 15-20 million properties…..Right now, the top 4 most expensive single homes up for sale: $26,000,000 to $32,000,000.”

Washington DC, (Hagerstown MD), New York NY 33%, Los Angeles CA 30% are all known to have a good level of education and above average wealth at least by comparison to many rural areas of America.

The Next article will give you are very strong understanding of why METRO locations are so Healthy dog treat conscious. HINT – Its to do with political parties, and who votes for who ..