pets and aquatics


‘Pets are part of the family’ UK households continue to spend on their


beloved pets, and opportunities abound to take advantage of that outlay on animals


leverage the UK consumer’s love of their furry friends continue to appear. Pet food supplier Skinner’s sales and


P


marketing director William Delamore comments: “Britain is a nation of pet lovers and pets are increasingly becoming real family members. This ‘humanisation’ is most clearly seen in the way consumers are looking at their pets’ food – and that is very much the same way as they’re viewing the entire family’s diet. “So much has been in the media over the last


few years about food and nutrition that people are starting to be much more aware of what their families are eating and the effect that nutrition has on their health and wellbeing. Because pets are also seen as important family members, the same logic is being placed on their food too. We are very excited about the next few years as we firmly believe this trend will continue and we know that the quality of our food is exactly what they’re looking for.” He adds: “There is room for all brands, levels of quality and price points in the market but


Squire’s in Badshot Lea has recently opened its revamped Pets & Aquatics Centre and is seeing strong growth in the category


ets and aquatics have been growing categories for many garden centres in recent years, and opportunities to


one of the main growing trends we’ve noticed is the call for ‘grain free’ and ‘hypoallergenic’ products.”


One retailer which has worked to take advantage of the category is Squire’s, which recently opened its revamped Pets & Aquatics Centre at its Badshot Lea centre. Squire’s managing director Martin Breddy explains: “We wanted to create a flagship Pets & Aquatics Centre, and Squire’s in Badshot Lea was already our largest pets and aquatics department. The size of the centre allows us to showcase a wide variety of animals, fish and accessories. It also means that we can offer customers a new shopping experience, with extras such as scales so that they can weigh their dog for free, and a ‘Meet Your Friend’ area where customers can get to know their new pet in a comfortable and relaxed environment. “In addition to this, every Thursday afternoon in term time we have a free ‘Meet Our Furry Friends’ session, where children can learn more about some of the animals that we sell, stroke them, and find out how to care for them.” Pets and aquatics is seen as an area for potential future growth, Martin adds, and has already seen strong results since the investment. “Approximately 6% of our sales come from our pets and aquatics departments,” he says. “We believe this is an area where we can achieve good future growth, and the newly opened Pets & Aquatics Centre at Squire’s Badshot Lea has been consistently growing at 25% since the investment was completed.”


Consumers seem willing to spend on their pets, with trends in quality products continuing to grow. “As people are becoming increasingly interested in their own health and nutrition, so they have been with their pets too,” Martin says. “Premium dog food with a high nutritional value has been one of our best


sellers, such as ‘Natural Instinct’ which has a high meat content.” Martin agrees that it is important for garden


centres to have expertise beyond ‘traditional’ categories. “Although our core category is gardening we want to attract a wide number of people to visit our garden centres and to stay for longer,” he says. “So as well as plants, garden furniture and garden accessories, Squire’s also sell a large selection of gifts and homewares, as well as pets and aquatics in five of our centres. All 15 of our centres also have a Cafe Bar, which serves a delicious breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea. “Customers can very often spend a few hours


at Squire’s discovering all we have to offer. We are a successful family business, and part of the secret to our success is that customers can discover something new, exciting and unexpected every time they visit us.” William believes a strong retail offering with


good advice pays dividends. “The most important thing for retailers is to make sure that staff are friendly and knowledgeable!” he says. “Time and time again consumers tell us that their main reason for using their preferred retailers is the helpfulness and knowledge of their staff. Not only that, but they will travel further and even pay a few pence more for the products if they find a really good retailer.”


14 | www.gardencentreupdate.com


GCU May 2017


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