SUPERZOO 2025 – Super Charge Your Business!

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SUPERZOO 2025 is only 4 weeks away. You will see in this advance look that the Pet Industry is even stronger than ever as SUPERZOO 25 reflects the ever-increasing record level of Pet Products & Services sales.

The pandemic fueled the strong growth of Pet Products sales on the internet, which has continued because of value and convenience. However, most of these $ are coming from proven products. Buyers of all kinds, from consumers to chain store executives, prefer to make in person buying decisions on new pet items. That’s what makes in person trade shows so important. You will clearly see this at SUPERZOO 2025 with an incredibly strong influx of new exhibitors.

Currently SUPERZOO 2025 has 1209 exhibitors. That is by far a new record. However, it will go even higher. There are currently 29 uncommitted booths. 19 are in the International and Emerging Brands sections. These groups are often slow to commit. However, there is no doubt that SUPERZOO 25 will have a full house of over 1230 exhibitors. Because the WPA was able to add more booth space, they are able to handle the huge influx of new exhibitors. This added space also allowed some exhibitors to fulfill their desire to have bigger booths. SUPERZOO 25 will be truly “SUPER”!

So how big is the SUPERZOO 25 “full house”? There are 318,000 sq ft of booths, a 32,000 sq ft New Products Showcase, with over 1000 items, and 15,000 sq ft devoted to 38 Show Floor Education and demonstration sessions. There are also 53 educational sessions on grooming or business subjects in separate rooms off of the show floor. Combined, these sessions offer over 120 hours of valuable education. This is a great opportunity for the expected 10,000+ buyers but also a challenge. They need to make a plan to take full advantage of the amazing strength of SUPERZOO 25. Total attendance including Buyers, Exhibitors, Media/Guests is expected to be 20,000+. The show will be crowded.

New is always a focus at Pet Trade shows. That also applies to exhibitors. At SUPERZOO 2025:

  • 447 Exhibitors weren’t at SZ24
  • 633 weren’t at GPE25
  • And 417 didn’t do either show

Plus, over 460 are SUPERZOO 1st Timers and 365 haven’t done any other major pet show, at least from 2019>2025. Those are some strong arguments for attending SUPERZOO 2025. It is definitely a “must do” for all Pet Industry participants. Now, let’s look at some specifics of what you will see there. While a change in the booth count is important, I suggest that you also note the changes in the share of booths. Changes in this measurement will indicate how a particular group or product category is performing relative to other groups. This will help identify key trends in the industry – both positive and negative. This can be very important in corporate decision making.

First, we’ll look at the overall show floor in terms of specialized sections.

  • Because they help guide attendees’ time on the huge show floor, special sections are very important. They exceeded 50% of SUPERZOO booths for the 1st time in 2021. They are up 18% from 2024 and now 62% of all booths.
  • Natural & Health are the unquestioned biggest trends in Pet Products. WPA combined them in 2022. They almost always go together so it makes sense to put them in one section. Natural has been the biggest section for years. They are up 15% in count and now account for 29.8% of all exhibitors.
  • After years of drops, Specialty & Lifestyle (Fashion) gained share, +0.3% – a big turnaround.
  • Live Animals had a 12% lift in booths. This is an important section as non-dog/cat pets started the industry.
  • Feed & Farm was stable in count, largely because poultry products have become part of the mainstream.
  • Grooming is a major focus of SUPERZOO. This section lost ground and dropped from 2nd to 3rd
  • The International Pavilion exploded in growth and reflects the importance of 250+ exhibitors from outside the U.S.
  • The big lift by Emerging Brands shows the importance of new although many new companies choose a special section/open floor to have a bigger booth. In fact, 1st Time SZ exhibitors occupy 38% of booths at the show.

Now let’s look at the Exhibitors by type, including animal.

  • 4 classifications have more exhibitors, but only Business Services gained share.
  • In terms of Animals, there are still plenty of exhibitors offering products to cover every need for Pet Parents of all animal types. Dogs are still the “Pet Kings”. They lost 2.8% in share but are still found in 4 of every 5 booths.
  • Business Services is again the exhibitor type leader. This segment includes companies that offer services to improve existing businesses and those that help in private label production – ingredients, packaging or finished products. In 2015 there were 65 SUPERZOO exhibitors in this category. In 2024 there were 212. In 2025, there was a huge 24% lift to 267. OEM services is the biggest driver. The recent inflation surge and cumulative high prices have made Private Label products very appealing to consumers. Retailers also usually make more profit.

Let’s take a closer look at the “Pet Royalty”. Here are the top 10 Dog and/or Cat Categories at SUPERZOO 2025.

  • This chart shows the performance by the top Cat & Dog products. In the top 5, only Treats grew in booths but all loss share. #6 > 10 had 3 with increases in count but only 2 – Food & Waste Pickup, gained share.
  • Waste pickup replaced Apparel at #10, the 1st change in the group since 2021. In the other 9, only 1 moved up and 1 down one spot in ranking from 2024.
  • Treats & Meds/Supp secured their place in the top 2 spots and have 106 or more booths than #3.
  • Toys had -4.1% fewer booths and loss -2.1% in share but stayed #3 in rank.
  • Collars/Leads loss -5.3% in booths and -2.2% in share (the biggest) but stayed 4th in rank.
  • Feeding Accessories had a -2.7% loss in booths and a -1.6% loss in share but stayed 5th in ranking.
  • Food is the biggest $ producer and had a lift in both # & share. However, it stayed 6th in rank.
  • Grooming Tools only had 4 more booths and lost -0.5% in share but moved up to #7 from #8.
  • Beds & Mats had 13 fewer booths and lost -2.0% in share. They fell from #7 to #8.
  • Shampoos had no change in booths but a -0.8% share loss. They stayed #9.

SUPERZOO will have a Record Exhibitor count, and the house will be full. In 2025 the average SUPERZOO booth was 271 sq ft, basically 10’x30’. This is down -3.9% from 2024 but it is +36% from 200 sq ft in 2016. New exhibitors trend towards smaller booths. This allowed the WPA to find room for the surge in “new”. New and existing Products and Services are available to fill virtually every need or want of the attendees. Plus, the growing strength of targeted special floor sections, which helps attendees fulfill their primary needs along with a massive amount of educational sessions are 2 prime examples of the WPA’s ongoing efforts to continually improve the show.

997 exhibitors (82.5%) focus on Dog and/or Cat. Let’s take a closer look.

There will be many more Exhibitors at SUPERZOO 2025 than at 2024. Those offering Dog and/or Cat products grew by 51 (+5.4%) but the Dog/Cat share of exhibitors decreased slightly from 84.3% to 82.5%. However, Dogs and Cats remain the unquestioned “royalty” of the industry. Here are some of the changes from SUPERZOO 2024

  • 15 of 33 categories increased their number of exhibitors; 16 had decreases; 2 had no change
  • 4 categories increased their share of total exhibitors; 26 lost share; 3 No Change
  • Ranking changes: 11 up; 10 down; 12 no change

In terms of booth gains & losses, the Top 10 had 4 of the 15 increases. The biggest increase was 15 by the Pet Food category (#6). The Top 10 also had 5 of the 16 category decreases but Carriers/Crates had the biggest drop, -17.

When you look at share gains & losses, the Top 10 had 2 of the 4 gains. The biggest gain was only +0.6% by Stain/Odor/Cleaning. The Top 10 also had 8 of the 26 losses, including the largest, -2.2% by Collars & Leads. 9 other categories had drops over -1%, with 4 of -2%.

The Top 10 only had 2 of the 11 increases in rank & 1 of the 10 drops, but the biggest changes were outside the group.

All Dog & Cat product needs are much more than covered, with a lot of choices in each. We should also note that while the overall “Dog” share was -2.8%, 3 dog “driven” categories – Stain/Odor, Wipes & Waste Pickup all gained in share.

SUPERZOO again showcases what is “happening” in the Pet Industry and offers a great opportunity for Industry participants, both exhibitors and attendees, to drive the growth of their businesses. It still takes effort and commitment from everyone, but SUPERZOO 2025 is the surest bet in Las Vegas!

Finally, the chart below details the specifics for all 33 of the Dog/Cat product categories that I defined for the Super Search Exhibitor Visit Planner.  (Note: The SZ 2025 Super Search will be available at PetBusinessprofessor.com on 7/28.)