With luxury items like a $ 610 Moncler puffer or a $ 205 Ralph Lauren cashmere sweater available for dogs, it was only a matter of time before beauty brands began to enter the successful pet market.
On Tuesday, luxury hair care brand Ouai launched its $ 32 Fur Bébé pet shampoo to coincide with National Puppy Day. The brand originally released a limited run of the product in 2018, but now the shampoo for dogs and cats is part of the brand’s permanent collection. It will be sold on the Sephora and Ulta websites, on Ouai.com, and through other sales partners including Nordstrom, Amazon and Urban Outfitters. According to Ouai officials, the time is right as more and more millennia are condemning pet parents with skyrocketing pandemic adoptions.
“Especially in the last year, so many people have taken or received pets. A lot of people work from home, ”said Hannah Beals, vp of brand marketing at Ouai. “When it comes to human pets, they really look like family members and people splurge. ”
The new product contains properties that are beneficial for fur or skin health, such as aloe vera, rambutan seed extract and hydrolyzed vegetable protein. It also exhibits the same smell as Ouai regular hair products.
According to Mintel, income for pet care products and services in 2020 it was more than $ 100 billion. A. survey by TD Ameritrade found that 50% of millennials have considered adopting a pet since the onset of the pandemic.
“We’ve seen more people interested in adoption,” said Lesley Brog, founder of pet shelter in Los Angeles, who said “there’s definitely more interest in people who want a partner.” during the pandemic. Ouai founder Jen Atkin captured her dogs Chewy and Roo from Wags and Walks, and she is promoting the product on their social channels after marrying to take a picture for the product along with other Ouai employee pets.
Jen Atkin Chewy (L) and Roo (R) dogs in design for Ouai ‘s new pet shampoo. (Image courtesy)
Animal photography is a real gateway to real social media engagement, and is “Ouai’s best-performing content,” Beals said. That “played a part in making SKU’s pet decisions,” she said. To promote the shampoo, the brand is releasing packs to influencer pets such as cat beauty influencer Lynn-Kate Rockefeller. It also features prominent petfluencers such as Bear (@goodboybear), a medium English surface goldendoodle with 113,000 followers on Instagram, and Taco (@ advent.of.taco), a malt with 42,000 followers.
Ouai encourages consumers to consume not only purebreds, but also adopted pets. He donates to Wags and Walks for the launch, and encourages pets who are available for adoption on his Instagram. For the 2018 launch, he donated 15% of the money to Lisa Vanderpump’s dog rescue group.
The shampoo for “fur babies” hits Sephora before any products for human babies, which may reflect the life priorities of the wealthy millennials who shop there. Data from 2016 found that three-quarters of Americans in their 30s have dogs and 51% have cats. U.S. births, meanwhile, have been on the decline.
“Now, it just feels like your pet is going with you everywhere, like a real baby,” Beals said. 
With disposable income to spend on pets rather than children, millennials have been driving growth for major dog products. Maxbone dog fashion and pet lifestyle Maxbone, which is working with Ouai to launch them with a specialty dog toy, saw 300% year-over-year sales growth and 8,000 new customers in 2020. Its main customer cost- purchased over $ 9,000. Beauty brands and other beauty retailers have adopted pet care as well. Department stores like Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus already stock pet shampoo with Kiehl’s and Aesop.
Mintel data from 2018 found that two out of five thousand years would cost as much gifts for pets as they would for friends, and a third wanted to buy matching clothes for themselves and their pet.
Ouai 2018 pet shampoo was sold directly on its site. “It sold out right away,” Beals said. “We have always wanted to bring this back since we first got it. Since then, people have never stopped wanting it. ”