Gardman has returned to the petcare market in a big way with a range of natural dog food, treats, toys, collars and leads, and bedding, and already the company has received a fantastic response to the products.

The company recruited the former Pets at Home head of buying Tim Goff to develop The Ernest Charles Co. range and make an instant impact in a challenging and competitive market place.

The range was launched at Glee last month and caused an amazing amount of interest from garden centre buyers but also caught the attention of independent pet stores.

Tim Goff, who joined Gardman as director of category management and purchasing in March, spoke to Pet Trade Xtra this week about how The Ernest Charles Co. range was conceived.

“Gardman had entered the pet care market two-and-a-half years ago but for a number of reasons it didn’t work out as well as the company had hoped. Thankfully, it didn’t deter the senior management from returning to the sector, as long as we returned with a better proposition,” said Tim.

With his experience at Pets at Home, where he worked for seven years, Tim was the ideal person to lead Gardman’s drive towards producing a range of pet food and accessories that would make an impact.

“One area of the petcare market that has grown over the past few years is the demand for natural products, so this seemed the best place to position our new range, especially when your core customers are garden centres.

“With natural feeds and treats combined with high quality toys and accessories, The Ernest Charles Co. petcare range represents a compelling proposition that satisfies consumer preferences. The high quality range of natural foods and treats gives consumers tempting options that their dogs will love.”

In keeping with the quality and UK heritage of The Ernest Charles Co. brand, the new natural dog food range has been developed with nutritional experts, each product in the range being free from wheat, dairy products and artificial colours and flavours.

The hypoallergenic feed has been carefully designed to be gentle on a dog’s digestion and suitable for each life stage – puppy, adult and senior. A range of naturally wholesome dog treats includes a selection of pig’s ears, tripe sticks, stuffed bones and pork rolls and complements the range.

“The success of The Ernest Charles Co. range of wild bird food has certainly helped the launch of the new petcare products,” admitted Tim. “It was an easy decision to incorporate them under this strong brand.

“As well as the natural aspect of the products, quality is also a key factor. We are so confident of the quality of our hypoallergenic food we are offering a satisfaction guarantee – if they’re not satisfied we’ll refund their money.” 

Another key attraction to garden centre retailers is that they can buy products in smaller quantities but still have confidence that Gardman will replenish stocks if they quickly run out.

“We make 950 deliveries to garden centres every week and this enables us to service our customers quickly and efficiently. We understand that stores are nervous about committing to large capital expenditure so we are happy to take smaller orders of pet products on the back of their core gardening orders.”

Tim said the response to the launch at Glee was very positive and that The Ernest Charles Co. range of pet products had got off to a good start. Garden centres would remain the core customer for the brand but the company would be looking at ways to expand into independent retailers and would consider exhibiting at specialist trade shows in 2015.

“These products will not be appearing in Pets at Home though,” said Tim. “We want to be able to offer garden centres and independent pet stores a range that’s exclusive to them.”

The Ernest Charles Co. dog feeds range includes:

• Turkey and Rice available for puppy, adult and senior dogs in 2kg and 12kg bags
• Salmon and Potato Adult in 2kg and 12kg bags

The Ernest Charles Co. range of accessories includes a range of collars and leads, all designed for maximum comfort and durability; stylish beds and bedding with non-slip bases and natural feel toys.