Inventors of pet friendly products have just over a week to submit their entries to Pets at Home to stand any chance of showcasing their ideas.
Pets at Home is holding its fifth Innovation Day on Wednesday 5 December, where budding developers and designers are given an exclusive opportunity to present their ideas to a panel of key decision makers at the pet care firm.
The company is currently fast-tracking numerous innovative concepts and solutions into the business as a result of the open days and it is eager to see many more.
Claire Gavin, head of innovation at Pets at Home, said: “We all look forward to our Innovation Days as they offer a unique opportunity to meet many passionate pet product designers and entrepreneurs.
“We are always on the lookout for exclusive products that have been developed with the pet and their owner at front of mind.
"While customers will always want to pamper their pets, today’s economic climate means products that deliver well thought through solutions often to sensitive issues and true value for money are likely to be well received by customers.
"For example, products that enrich the life of pets and enable owners to care even more responsibly build closer bonds and better relationships between pets and their owners. These are all characteristics which we’ve seen in some of the successful ideas from Innovation Days in the past.”
The Smart Kitz Cardboard Castle is an easy-to-assemble cardboard castle for small pets which, after being showcased at the April Innovation Day, is now on the shelves in all 328 Pets at Home stores.
Nigel Bateson, of Smart Kitz, said: "We had been developing our Cardboard Pet Castle designed for house pets such as rabbits, cats, rats and ferrets etc. and presented this to the Pets at Home team at their April Innovation Day.
"The team immediately saw the potential and after working together with the buyers to ensure our castles could be presented in a marketable and retail-friendly manner, the product went on sale at the start of September. They are doing so well they are planning to stock them right through Christmas.
"The good thing about Innovation Day was being able to get straight in front of the key decision makers and explain fully how our products would appeal not just to owners but also to the instinctive nature of small pets.
"The buyers loved the environmentally-friendly credentials of the product and the idea behind it - which is to enrich the lives of pets and also to increase contact between owners and their pets.
"I'd advise anyone looking to present their products at the Innovation Day to remember that Pets at Home are looking for uniqueness, creativity and a real understanding of both pets and their owners."
Nick Carr of Addicare presented the Addicare anti-bacterial anti-odour dog bed at an Innovation Day in January and was successful in bringing his product to the shelves of Pets at Home stores for an eight-week trial.
Nick said: “We were confident the Addicare dog bed would catch the attention of the buyers at Pets at Home as it’s a completely unique product which uses silver technology within the fabric to eliminate bacteria and odour.
"The Innovation Day was an incredibly positive experience as it gave us the opportunity to meet the buyers and increase our brand awareness in the industry. Sales of the product have been really successful and we’re looking forward to the next steps.”
If you have a fully developed and prototyped product for the team to consider send through details of your design concept to productdesign@petsathome.co.uk. Pets at Home will then contact anyone whose concept wins the chance to deliver a 30 minute pitch to the panel of trading experts on December 5th at the Stoke on Trent distribution centre.
The deadline for responses is Friday 23rd November.
