An increasing number of trends that emerge in the North American pet market are reverberating across the Atlantic and are being seen both in the United Kingdom and throughout Europe. This is partly a reflection of the scale of the U.S. pet market, and the fact that once manufacturers develop successful product lines, they will look overseas to create export markets.

One of the current signs of this trend is the interest in canine clothing. Back in the 1980s, when I visited a well-known New York department store that stocked various lines of clothing for pets, it would have been impossible to purchase anything similar for dogs in the United Kingdom, other than a basic coat.

Today, however, my nearest store specializing in canine couture is less than a five minutes' walk from my home. But the market is not static and is continuing to change and evolve.

At first, virtually all clothing of this type was being imported from North America, which made it relatively expensive. But there are now a growing number of U.K. companies that cater to the domestic market. This will make it increasingly difficult for imports to continue at past levels, particularly as these new U.K. entrants to the market have resulted in a fall in retail prices.

The Internet is also playing a part, because it is easy to create designs and sell garments online, free from the overheads associated with a traditional store. Small-scale manufacturing also provides the potential to offer exclusivity in design.

It is not just in dry goods, however, that an American influence can be seen in the U.K. pet trade. Clear links are also apparent in terms of livestock breeding. This is perhaps most evident in the case of herps, particularly the leopard gecko (Eublepharis macularius), which is an ideal lizard for anyone starting out in this hobby. Widespread commercial breeding in the United States has seen the emergence of striking color variants of the leopard gecko, such as the tangerine and mack snow varieties. Some of the surplus stock has been sent to Europe, and now, thanks to the relative scarcity of these variants there, prices are higher at present than  in North America. Things are starting to change as these new varieties become more widely available to European hobbyists.

A similar situation exists in the case of snakes. This is important, because the emergence of new colors serves to maintain interest in herps generally, helping to ensure that the overall market for dry goods in this sector continues to grow.

Visit any herp outlet in the United Kingdom and you will see that North American products, particularly prepared foods and supplements, are well-represented on the shelves. The same applies in the case of more sophisticated bird diets.

This is a reflection of the fact that there was no U.K.-based company that managed to spot and profit from these emerging market trends.

It is only in the case of aquatics that U.K. companies tend to be more prominent globally, partly for historical reasons. Back in the formative days of the aquatics industry, there were a number of U.K. pioneers, such as Neville Carrington, who founded the company that grew into Interpet.

Working initially in a garage at his home, Carrington, a keen fishkeeper himself, was instrumental in developing products that became established in the U.K. market and overseas. Interpet maintained a strong research and development side throughout the time that Carrington was involved in the company. It became recognized worldwide for its innovation. As a further sign of global consolidation in the pet industry, Interpet was sold to Central Garden and Pet Co. of California in 2004.

True, there are some differences between the U.S. and U.K. pet trades, but these distinctions are disappearing, creating more of a global marketplace. This means that major international companies are increasingly likely to dominate the sector. It is not entirely bad news for an innovative small enterprise, however. The likelihood is higher than ever before that if a company starts to make an impression in the market, one of the acquisitive larger players is likely to want to buy it, offering its products to pet owners around the world through its own far-reaching supply chain.

Posted: Nov. 3, 2006