On the way to market leadership - PET Global

Retail
On the way to market
leadership
Christian Pop graduated
from the Aerospace Engineering
Faculty a few years
after the fall of the Iron Curtain,
back in 1989. In those
confused days, the climate
was not quite right for such
a highly specialised technical
career, and so he ended
up working in a distribution
company for the “Pedigree”
and “Whiskas” brands. “After
having accumulated enough
knowledge, it was time to
set up my own distribution
company,” reports Christian
Pop. His company Pet Product
was established in 1998,
initially functioning as a pet
Animax
The Romanian pet market is trying to emulate the
European trend. The wholesaler Pet Product owns
the retail chain Animax with nine stores, and
general manager Christian Pop plans to cover
the whole of Romania’s territory with his shops
accessories distributor in the
area of Romania’s capital
Bucharest. Three years later
the first retail shop Animax
was opened. Almost every
year since then, a new shop
has been added. Today, the
Animax chain numbers five
shops in Bucharest, two in
Timisoara, one in Constantza
on the Black Sea and the latest
store in Sibiu.
The first shop, which
opened in 2001 in Bucharest,
had an area of 185 m 2 .
“Opening a shop of such a
size was a challenge,” Christian
Pop continues. “At the
time shops had an average
The Animax shops offer around 3 000 products. Pet food accounts
for the majority of the turnover.
size of around 15 m 2 .
We aim for all our
shops in the big
shopping malls to
have in excess of 100
m 2 each.” Since its
establishment the
company has grown
in size to the extent
that its workforce
has increased from
2 to 114. Now 61 employees,
11 of whom
are veterinarians,
work in the Animax
shops, while the distribution
department has 53 employees,
including 12 salesmen
and 6 promoters.
Christian Pop: “If business runs as we
wish it to, we plan to cover the whole of
Romania’s territory.”
The company has two different
divisions: the Animax
shops on the one hand,
which stock around 3 000
Open bags for the sale of premium pet food is typical of most
eastern European countries.
14 PET in Europe 1-2/2007

The Animax chain numbers five shops in Bucharest, two in Timisoara,
one in Constantza on the Black Sea and the latest store in Sibiu.
products, and the wholesale
division Pet Products on the
other, with brands from
Imac, Padovan, Schesir, Kippsy
(all Italian), Guabi (Brazil),
Zolux (France), Patagon
(Netherlands), Bosch (Germany)
and Mira-Mar (Czech
Republic). Other brands are
also sold in the shops, like
Royal Canin, Nutro, Hill’s,
Iams and Eukanuba, Ferplast,
Karlie, Tetra, Sera, JBL etc.,
which are imported by the
parent company Pet Product,
and brands sold on the Romanian
market. “The advantage
of our image as a shop
representative of this field
gives us the possibility to familiarise
the clients with the
products we import,” says
Christian Pop. The company
serves more than 700 other
pet shops, veterinary clinics
and pharmacies. Some articles
are also delivered to supermarkets
like Cora, Metro,
Billa and Auchan. Pet food
accounts for the majority of
the turnover, while the rest
is accessories: about 50 per
cent are dog-related items,
some 25 per cent are products
for cats, 16 per cent for
fish and reptiles and 9 per
cent for birds and rodents.
“All our shopkeepers must
constantly struggle to attract
new customers and to maintain
the old ones,” states
Christian Pop. “We try to
encourage our customers to
buy the ready packed pet
food in bigger quantities, by
offering attractive prices and
free gifts upon purchasing
pet food in sealed bags.” A
unique service in the shops is
the self-service system, where
the clients are able to bring
their pets to try a product or
to see which food the pet
prefers. In every shop a vet
specialising in animal nutrition
and pet behaviour offers
clients the most suitable
product from the wide range
available.
Opening more shops is a
long term strategy for Christian
Pop. “If business runs as
we wish it to, we plan to extend
the shop chain from its
initial status of distributor
for the Bucharest area,” the
businessman says. “Currently
the company covers the
whole of Romania’s territory,
with the objective being to
open new Animax shops in
important cities of the country,
either its own or franchised,
and two warehouses
to sustain logistically the development
of our clients in
their geographical area.”
Florin Dumitru,
Bucharest
All the Animax shops in shopping malls will have a sales area of
more than 100 m 2 .
Pet trade in Romania
Christian Pop: “The pet market in Romania is undoubtedly trying to
line up with the European tendency. As general welfare is slowly but
steadily growing, the demand for more and more specialised products
is also growing. Due to the limited time people have and to the
general awareness that the food prepared at home cannot fulfil all
the nutritive needs of the pet, more and more pet owners buy specialised
food. The buyer seeks not only the daily food for his pet, but
is also keen to purchase cosmetic products, wardrobe items, toys,
fancy cages, aquarium systems and so on. I am speaking about the
middle/upper class citizen in the bigger cities. In the rural and small
town area, the situation is slightly different. Dogs, at least, are widely
considered to be working animals, not pets. They seldom live indoors
and are fed the leftovers from the family meals. These owners rarely
buy anything from pet shops for their animals. In this light, we are
looking forward to see what kind of restrictions in terms of pet-owning
legislation the accession to the EU will impose on pet owners, as
well as on the pet market as a whole.”
PET in Europe 1-2/2007 15