Trending: Pet Food Dog food market trends with Nicole Hill of MarketPlace
Feb 20, 2026
Nicole Hill, VP of Strategy and Innovation at Marketplace, provides future-facing consumer intelligence for pet brands. She explores fresh pet momentum and affordability driving mixed-format meals. She covers how owners combine brands, the challenge of presenting products as systems, shifting definitions of natural, and the tension between sustainability and consumer desires.
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Use Trial Sizes And System Merchandising
- Offer trial-friendly sizes and system merchandising to reduce trial friction and encourage cross-product adoption.
- Present products as a customizable system so shoppers can combine formats without abandoning brand positioning.
Natural, Price, And Benefits Drive Choice
- Top purchase drivers are perceived "all natural" ingredients, affordability, and specific health benefits.
- Gut health and digestive benefits are rising as mainstream need states mirroring human trends.
Natural Is Ambiguous And Segment-Specific
- "Natural" lacks a shared definition and segment perceptions differ widely, even about cultivated meat.
- Some consumers view cultivated meat as compatible with naturalness because they prize ingredient quality or premium perception.