Pet food packages claw at consumers: even with innovations in cat food packaging, companies aren't keeping up with consumer demands for convenience

Food & Drug Packaging, April, 2002 by Mona Doyle

Our qualitative research suggests that packaging for people food is perceived to have improved about 65% in the last 20 years while packaging for cat food has improved about 20%.

With more than 30% of U.S. households having cats as pets, there has been much more innovation in cat food packaging than most cat people (we respectfully hesitate to call them owners) realize. Major changes haven't come to the biggest sellers so the changes that have been introduced have barely changed shoppers' perceptions of what's available.

Most cat people are unaware of packaging changes because the marketing competition is focused on health and nutrition and packaging perceptions continue to be based on the products which occupy most of the shelf space.

And, the fact is, many people who purchase and serve the cat food find handling even the premium products distasteful.

Says one consumer, "The packaging is eternally annoying, smelly and counter-productive."

Feeding cats may not be as dramatic as the TV commercials suggest, but even for upscale products, the feeding experience remains unpleasant. While the food and the positioning are getting more sophisticated and the competition is getting more intense, the major players have to use packaging as a competitive tool that could make the feeding experience more pleasant for the feeders as well as the eaters.

Here are consumer comments about cat food packaging:

* "Boxes of cat food are difficult to open and impossible to close."

* "Large bags are cheap but we'd appreciate easier opening and an easier way to close it after it's been opened."

* I absolutely hate foil packages that have moist food in them. I assume you can `tear' them but that doesn't work for me. Cutting the package with scissors works but they're still hard to empty and the sauce gets all over my hands."

Conusmers also feel that because the boxes and bags are tough to reseal, the food will end up going stale. And even unfinicky cats dislike stale food.

People also don't like to share their can openers with their cats so traditional cans are out for cat food. Even though pop-top cans are better, opening them can cause cut fingers and the cans are difficult to wash thoroughly for recycling.

Some consumers complained about label deception with one stating, "Guess what, even Science Diet lies about their product. It will say beef and kidneys, but the third or even second ingredient is fish."

Another consumer wants to take cat food packaging and labeling to a whole new level: "In all ideal world, the labels on cat food would smell like the contents (like those perfume scratch-off ads in magazines). That way the cat could select exactly which flavor he/she wants BEFORE opening the package."

Hopefully, the cat food smells would be too weak for people noses, but if the smells were designed for people noses, wouldn't this be nifty for soup, sauces, and cheeses too?

Other major problems consumers have with cat food packaging include:

* Crushed dry food at the package bottom makes it inedible.

* Pouches and cans designed for one-time-use don't stay fresh for two or three-time uses.

* Single-serve bags of moist food are hard to open and wasteful because they are hard to empty.

* Large packages are hard to carry.

* Ingredient statements are often hard to read because they are printed on colored backgrounds and/or in small type.

* It's hard to tell who makes what.

But, in contrast to all this criticism, one consumer defines good cat food packages as "those that reseal so the dreaded oxygen doesn't make the food unacceptably stale. Relatively small packages (one week's supply) are better because they are used up before they are declared in yowling Siamese to be too stale."

The author, Mona Doyle, is the CEO of The Consumer Network Inc.. an organization that regularly takes the pulse of consumers on packaging issues. She publishes The Shopper Report newsletter. Contact her at 2401 Pennsylvania Ave., Suite 2A4, Philadelphia, PA 19130 Phone: 800-291-0100; E-mail: Mona@MonaDoyle.com