Car accessories for dogs most-searched in US

Consumers in the US search the most for pet-friendly accessories like a dog car seat, according to Google "Auto Trends 2018" report released on Friday.

A user in the US was 36 times as likely to search for pet-related items like a dog hammock than the average person in Germany and 10 times more likely than the average person in Japan.

"When it comes to the US, pets are a huge market: Starbucks is offering 'Puppuccinos'. There's farm-to-table pet food," Yarden Horwitz, Trendspotting Lead for Google was quoted as saying by The Verge.

"Consumers are also going to figure out how to enhance the driving experience for the pet who is their newest family member. Millennials are thinking of pets as their family members, so they are going to rethink how a car is being used by pets," the report added.

Germans seem obsessed with digital radio while the Japanese want to the bring the comforts of their living rooms into their vehicle.

"Across all markets, we see a consistent trend in consumers searching to bring on-board cameras into their vehicles. Many cars already feature back-up cameras, but car shoppers are looking for different types of cameras," Google "Auto Trends" report noted.

The search engine giant complied top-volume queries related to the automotive sector in its Search feature and YouTube and surveyed over 1,000 consumers to identify the top auto trends in the US, Germany and Japan.

Notably, it is Google's first major automotive trend report made public after the company began releasing fashion, beauty and food trend reports in 2015.

--IANS

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