With pet stores closing at a rate of knots and customers drifting off to competitors, Supreme Petfoods’ Marketing Manager Claire Hamblion says it’s time to stop the rot and drive growth in the market...

The recent years of economic uncertainty and talk of gloom and doom on the high street has piled the pressure on independent pet retailers. But it is not just the economy that has hit the pet trade hard, it has also been affected by the changing face of the pet retail sector.

The Pet Care Trade Association (PCTA) Triennial State of the Sector Survey stated that the number of pet stores selling livestock has dropped significantly since 2005 – by a staggering 28%. Pet retailers are finding it increasingly tough to make a profit from selling livestock. 

According to the PCTA survey, independent pet retailers are also concerned about the increasing competition from online and grocery retailers. In fact over 60% of respondents said that they believed competitive internet sales are their biggest threat, ahead of those who stated that supermarkets are their greatest competition.

Supreme Petfoods recognised this as a big concern for the independent pet sector and decided it was about time something was done to help stop the rot.

Claire said:  “We frequently hear from our customers that pet owners will buy their pet or get advice from their local pet store, but then go and spend their money somewhere else – maybe online or in grocery. Being helpful is great, but not when your own knowledge and experience is putting profit into someone else’s pocket. That is simply not a long term business model.”

Supreme’s solution is the Happy Hoppers Club – a supercharged loyalty programme. It doesn’t cost anything for retailers to take part and allows pet stores to engage in a fun way with their customers, as well as providing a strategic method of building relationships.

When retailers sign their store up to the Happy Hoppers Club, there is no risk. And for every customer a pet store signs up, Supreme will regularly drive that customer directly back to the store to redeem vouchers, to collect gifts and much more that will make pet ownership even more fun. The Happy Hoppers Club will also drive added value into the category.

Supreme will be at all the big pet events and each time, they will recruit pet owners to the club and drive them back to their local Happy Hoppers’ retailer – with a voucher to spend that can only be redeemed in that store. This bespoke loyalty scheme is available to all independent retailers at absolutely no cost.

The Happy Hoppers Club will also help retailers fill the ‘needs gap’ recognised by the PDSA Animal Wellbeing Report, which found that 150,000 rabbits live in cages that are too small and 750,000 rabbits do not get enough hay. The report also found that 1.1 million rabbits live alone when they should be living in pairs. In addition, it found that over 1 million bunnies lack mental stimulation. This gives pet retailers a big opportunity to make happier hoppers and remember - what’s better for bunnies is better for business – bigger hutches, more hay, bedding, accessories and food sales.

Claire said: “We carried out significant research and understand that there is still a lot of work to be done to promote the right level of care that pets need. Educated pet owners are prepared to spend much more when they visit their local pet store. Happy Hoppers is all about pet owners having more fun with their pets.”

And the profit potential is an incredibly tasty proposition too with the estimated total annual profit value for those retailers signing up just one rabbit owner a week at £15,765.

Claire continued: “Happy Hoppers Club members will receive advice on pet care, special gifts, giveaways and money off coupons. We will join them in celebrating their pets’ birthdays as well as other events in their pets’ lives. The best bit for retailers is that the small amount of effort it takes them to sign up their customers will be rewarded big time – as all these special offers will only be redeemable at their store.”