Pet present opens with AI-powered merchandise and international ambitions

The Pet Fair Asia 2025 opened in Shanghai on August 20, showcasing a thriving “pet economy” pushed by technological innovation.

Smart pet electronics have emerged because the fastest-growing sector, with synthetic intelligence main the best way. New merchandise function multi-cat household administration with face recognition and health-focused devices like automated urine detectors.

A stage for high-techs

Chinese firms like Homerun, Petkit and Cat-Link are highlighting their newest good devices, together with litter bins, meals and water dispensers and air purifiers, on the present that opened within the Pudong New Area.

These units supply superior options like smartphone connectivity, cameras for multi-cat/canine identification and AI-powered well being administration methods. The new applied sciences present pet homeowners with customized well being stories by monitoring every thing from bathroom habits to urine and fecal samples.

“This is the first year of rapid development for smart pet appliances,” mentioned Zhu Yonglie, a advertising official at Homerun.

The pet trade is attracting important capital. Data from Qixinbao, a database platform, exhibits that home pet firms secured practically 1 billion yuan (US$139 million) in financing within the first half of the yr. The pet medical care sector, specifically, acquired about 53 p.c of this funding, highlighting its progress potential.

Chinese companies goal abroad markets

Chinese pet firms are more and more specializing in worldwide enlargement. They are betting on high-priced merchandise to offset dangers from tariffs and different commerce limitations. For instance, Zhejiang Chaohong, an exporter of pet trackers, acknowledged that its merchandise, priced at over US$50, are comparatively much less affected by tariffs.

WooHuloo, a Shanghai-based agency, plans to increase into markets like South Korea and Southeast Asia with its trendy and practical designs, positioning itself because the “Pop Mart of smart pet devices.” Pop Mart is a Chinese toy firm famed for its smash-hit Labubu doll.

A booming pet economic system

The present options over 2,600 exhibitors masking your complete pet trade, together with meals, well being care and provides. This yr’s occasion highlights the strong vitality of the multi-billion-dollar “furry baby” economic system.

According to iResearch Consulting, the Chinese pet trade market is projected to achieve 450 billion yuan in 2025, up from 388 billion yuan in 2024. Qixinbao reported that there have been 4.1 million pet-related firms registered in China by 2024, a tenfold improve since 2019, reflecting the fast progress and immense potential of the market.