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The best pet products to sell online right now are food toppers, refrigerated and fresh pet food, novel pet accessories (from custom cages to functional dog gear), and any inventor-style product that solves a real owner pain point. The pet industry is projected to hit $154 billion in 2024, up roughly 8% year over year, and there is more white space inside it than most sellers assume.
That is the top-line from Pet Summit Orlando, where my co-host Toni Herrbach spoke four times last week, walking the floor of the co-located Global Pet Expo with 1,100 vendors and hundreds of pet influencers. In this episode of the My Wife Quit Her Job podcast, Toni broke down which pet categories are growing, why most pet brands are losing money on Amazon, and where the real opportunity sits for creators and sellers today.
Below is the full recap: the hot pet product categories, the Amazon influencer angle nobody was using, and the diversification playbook Toni delivered to a room full of million-follower pet creators who had no email list.
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Table of Contents
Key takeaways
- The pet industry is projected to hit $154 billion in 2024, up ~8% year over year, with a stated goal to grow pet ownership from ~60% of households to 70%.
- Pet food toppers, refrigerated fresh pet food, and functional accessories (feeders, harnesses, terrariums) are the fastest-growing product niches right now.
- Most pet brands are on Amazon but do not understand it. Many are losing money per unit because they never checked their margins against Amazon fees.
- The Amazon Influencer program is under-used in pets. Pet products carry a 4% commission (double the standard 2%), making them one of the highest-earning categories for on-listing influencer video.
- Pet influencers with millions of followers are leaving 80%+ of their potential income on the table by relying on brand deals only. YouTube, email, and private-label products unlock the rest.
- TikTok Shop pays affiliates ~20% commission versus Amazon Associates’ ~2%. One pet creator made $80,000 from a single viral TikTok promoting one product.
- The biggest missed opportunity for pet influencers is YouTube. Most create 5+ videos per day on TikTok and Instagram, but fewer than half repost to YouTube where ads pay passively.
How big is the pet industry and how fast is it growing?
The US pet industry is projected to reach $154 billion in 2024, up roughly 8% year over year, according to the state-of-the-industry keynote at Pet Summit delivered by a former PetSmart executive. Roughly 60% of US households own a pet today, and the industry’s stated strategic goal is to push that number to 70% because the revenue math tips dramatically at that threshold.
Growth is not evenly distributed across categories. Premium and human-adjacent products (fresh food, custom-formulated diets, food toppers, functional supplements) are outpacing traditional dry-food staples. Owners are treating pets more like family members every year, and the wallet share reflects it.
The takeaway for sellers is that “saturated” is not the right mental model for pets. Every subcategory has its own supply-demand curve, and the fastest growth is in premium and specialty niches where the incumbents move slowly.
What are the best pet products to sell online in 2026?
The best pet product categories to sell online in 2026 are food toppers, refrigerated and fresh pet food, functional accessories (feeders, harnesses, custom terrariums, dog hiking gear), and inventor-style products that solve a specific owner problem. Each category sits above the industry’s 8% growth average.
Here is the category-by-category read from the Pet Summit expo floor:
| Category | Why it is growing | Best channel |
|---|---|---|
| Pet food toppers & gravies | Owners upgrading standard kibble; low unit cost, high repurchase | Amazon Subscribe & Save + DTC bundles |
| Fresh & refrigerated pet food | Premium diet trend; subscription-friendly | DTC subscription |
| Functional feeders (elevated, slow, bug-proof) | Health-first owners; patentable innovation | Facebook video ads + Amazon |
| Reptile & small-animal cages/terrariums | Underserved niche with dedicated hobbyist buyers | Niche DTC + Amazon |
| Functional dog apparel (hiking pants, cooling vests) | Novelty plus practicality; strong social content | TikTok Shop + Instagram |
| Dog supplements & hydration (“Gatorade for dogs”) | Follows human wellness trend; premium price point | DTC + Amazon |
| Inventor SKUs (unique problem-solvers) | Patent moat; ideal for Shark Tank / paid social | Facebook ads + PR |
The category we did not see much of at the expo but that keeps coming up in real revenue conversations is dog training and behavior digital products, often paired with a physical accessory (leash, harness, treat pouch). The margin structure of digital + physical bundles beats either alone.
Why most pet brands are losing money on Amazon
Most pet brands are losing money on Amazon because they never modeled their unit economics against Amazon’s fees before listing, and they staffed the channel with whoever was available (often a family member or an outsourced agency they cannot audit). The result is bestseller listings with negative contribution margin on every sale.
Toni and her co-host Liz Saunders walked the Global Pet Expo floor pulling up brands’ Amazon listings on their phones. They found repeated patterns: shipping-heavy products priced without accounting for FBA weight tiers, kits and multi-packs priced below single-unit cost of goods, and hero SKUs subsidizing money-losing SKUs across the catalog.
The most common conversation went: “Who runs your Amazon?” “Oh, we have a guy.” No brand owner in that conversation could produce their landed-cost-plus-fees breakdown by SKU. If you are a pet brand reading this, that spreadsheet is the highest-ROI weekend project you will do this quarter.
How the Amazon Influencer program works for pet products
The Amazon Influencer program lets approved creators upload short review videos that live directly on Amazon product listings, and pet products pay a 4% commission versus the standard 2% on most categories. That doubling makes pets one of the most lucrative on-listing video categories on the entire platform.
Two things most brands and influencers do not know:
- Brands must upload their own video first. An Amazon product listing cannot receive influencer videos until the brand has posted at least one branded video into the top carousel. Once that video is live, the slot is “unlocked” for any approved influencer to publish additional review videos there.
- Approval is easy for pet influencers. Anyone with a legitimate Instagram or TikTok following in pets is being accepted into the program. Multiple influencers at Pet Summit were already accepted but had never uploaded a single video.
The revenue math is compelling. A single evergreen review video on a hero pet SKU can generate hundreds of dollars per month for years, at zero incremental cost after filming. Stack 20 to 30 videos across popular pet products and it becomes a real income stream.
How pet influencers should diversify revenue beyond brand deals
Pet influencers should diversify revenue beyond brand deals by adding YouTube monetization, an email list, an owned digital product (course or membership), and eventually a private-label physical product. Brand deals pay well but stop the moment you stop working; every other channel pays passively.
The pattern Toni saw at Pet Summit was extreme concentration risk. Creators with 100,000 to 1 million+ Instagram followers were earning $5,000 to $10,000 per brand deal but had no email list, no YouTube channel, no digital product, and no way to run a “flash promotion” during a slow month. If the brand-deal pipeline dries up for 30 days, revenue drops to zero.
The five-lever revenue framework Toni delivered on stage was:
- Brand deals (current bread and butter, keep doing them)
- YouTube ad revenue (repurpose existing TikTok/Instagram video)
- Email list (even a single ConvertKit landing page)
- Affiliate + Amazon Influencer (already creating the content)
- Private label products (60%+ margins vs. 4-20% affiliate)
The single fastest lever for most pet influencers is #2. Every video they film for TikTok or Instagram can be re-uploaded to YouTube as-is, or stitched together into 10-minute long-form. Most channels can hit YouTube’s monetization threshold in weeks given their existing audience.
How to make a Shark Tank-worthy pet product
To make a Shark Tank-worthy pet product, solve a real owner-observed problem, get a design patent or utility patent, produce a small first run with your own tooling, and be ready to hand-sell into pet retail while paid-social ads build ecommerce demand. That is the exact path one inventor Toni met at Pet Summit had taken with a bug-proof dog and cat feeder.
She spent three years on molds, manufacturing, and the patent, launched on Shopify in December, and hit crickets. The invention was done, but the audience-building work had barely started. This is the most common inventor trap in pets: the assumption that a novel product sells itself.
The right sequence, in order:
- Ship 100 to 500 units to seed reviews and video content.
- Run Facebook video ads to a strong problem-solution creative.
- Apply for Shark Tank the same week (the show wants inventor stories with revenue traction).
- Approach 5 to 10 pet influencers with gifted product, not paid deals.
- List on Amazon only after you have DTC data on your unit economics.
How pet influencers should use TikTok Shop for affiliate revenue
Pet influencers should use TikTok Shop primarily as an affiliate revenue channel because TikTok pays affiliates ~20% commission per sale, compared to ~2% from Amazon Associates. On viral videos, that spread turns into life-changing money.
One creator at Pet Summit reported making $80,000 in about a month promoting a single product to a small TikTok following, purely because one video went viral and TikTok kept serving it. The 20% commission on that volume dwarfed anything a comparable Amazon Associate video would have paid.
TikTok Shop works best in pets for consumables (treats, chews, food toppers, supplements) and for viral novelty items (funny costumes, dog beds with unique features). Broad-audience pet gear beats niche species gear because TikTok’s targeting is not narrow enough to reliably serve iguana-terrarium videos to iguana owners.
Why every pet influencer needs a YouTube channel
Every pet influencer needs a YouTube channel because YouTube is the only platform that pays passive ad revenue from a back catalog, and pet creators are already making 5+ videos per day for other platforms. Republishing that content to YouTube costs almost nothing incrementally.
Fewer than 50% of the influencers at Pet Summit were actively publishing on YouTube. Every single one Toni asked said the same sentence: “I know I need to be doing YouTube.” What is stopping them is a mental hurdle, not a real workload hurdle, because the video already exists.
The fastest low-effort path is to compile 5 to 10 short TikToks or Reels into a single 8 to 12 minute YouTube long-form video. Add a simple intro and outro, upload to YouTube, and let YouTube’s ad system do the rest. Creators with existing large audiences on other platforms often hit YouTube’s monetization threshold in 2 to 6 weeks.
Frequently asked questions
How big is the US pet industry?
The US pet industry is projected to reach $154 billion in 2024, growing at roughly 8% year over year according to Pet Summit’s state-of-the-industry keynote. Approximately 60% of US households currently own a pet, with industry leaders targeting 70% household penetration.
What is the most profitable pet product category to sell?
The most profitable pet product categories to sell right now are food toppers and gravies, fresh and refrigerated food, functional feeders, and inventor-style problem-solvers. These categories combine high growth rates, strong repurchase behavior for consumables, and premium price points.
What commission does the Amazon Influencer program pay on pet products?
The Amazon Influencer program pays 4% on pet products, which is double the standard 2% affiliate rate on most other categories. That makes pets one of the highest-earning on-listing video categories for approved influencers.
How much do TikTok Shop affiliates make on pet products?
TikTok Shop affiliates typically earn ~20% commission per sale, roughly 10x the Amazon Associates rate. Individual viral videos have generated $80,000+ in a single month for pet creators with modest follower counts.
Why are pet brands losing money on Amazon?
Most pet brands are losing money on Amazon because they never modeled unit economics against Amazon’s FBA fees, weight-based shipping tiers, and referral fees before listing. Many hero SKUs are being sold below breakeven cost, subsidized by one profitable product.
Do I need a website to be a pet influencer?
You do not need a website to earn brand-deal revenue as a pet influencer, but you absolutely need one to diversify beyond brand deals. Even a single email-capture landing page (ConvertKit’s free plan works) unlocks passive revenue channels that brand deals alone cannot provide.
Can you make money selling pet products without inventing something new?
Yes. You can source existing products from suppliers (Alibaba, US wholesalers, private-label manufacturers) and sell them under your own brand. If you have an audience, you already know what they buy, which is the hardest part of ecommerce and the part most sellers do not have solved.
What is Pet Summit Orlando and who should attend?
Pet Summit is a conference co-located with the Global Pet Expo in Orlando, split into a brand track (for pet product companies) and an influencer/creator track (for pet content creators). It is the top annual gathering for anyone selling pet products online or building a pet-focused audience.
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