Not Just Pets in Bath was voted UK Pet Retailer of the Year in the 2013 PetQuip Awards and has since used the recognition to elevate the business on to a much wider platform. Owner Janine Tozer reveals what the Award has done for her pet store...
"Winning the Pet Retailer of the Year Award meant a lot to us as it recognised our hard work and commitment to the industry," said Janine, pictured with husband Mike at last year's PetQuip Awards party.
"We have used the award win to promote the business in local news media, on social media such as Twitter and Facebook, on our blog and in our email salutation. We also created a banner on our website to publicise the fact. As you can see, we wanted to shout about it.
"Winning the award gained us recognition among others in the industry and especially with some suppliers too, some of whom had not heard of us before. It has helped raise our profile locally among businesses as well."
If you want to follow the example of an award-winning pet store like Not Just Pets, then the first step is to enter the 2014 PetQuip Awards.
The 2014 awards are now open for entries in all seven categories, which are:
UK Pet Retailer of the Year- International Retailer of the Year
- Supplier of the Year
- Wholesaler of the Year
- Pet Product Innovation of the Year
- Pet Product Exporter of the Year
- Lifetime Achievement Award
Entry for the awards is completely free of charge and companies or persons can enter as many categories as they wish. Nominations need to be emailed to pat@petquip.com by 30th June 2014.
Nominations can come directly from the entrant or be submitted by another party. The application needs to provide full contact details of the entrant and stipulate which category they wish to enter.
All applications should include brief information on the reason for the entry and why the particular product, company or person qualifies for an award. On receipt of an entry, PetQuip will forward a simple form for the entrant to complete that will provide entry information for the judges. The form will be accompanied by the Terms and Conditions.
The entries will be judged by an independent panel of judges during August and the winners will be announced at the PetQuip Awards Party on 14 September 2014, which is being staged in association with Impact Exhibitions, the organiser of PATS Harrogate.
Organiser Pat Flynn, PetQuip’s association manager, commented: ‘”PATS has proved to be a fantastic trade show for the industry, and our awards are intended to recognise some of the major achievements of the past season, whilst also bring an element of fun to the event.
"We have been fortunate to recruit The Rockits, the resident band from the Cavern Club in Liverpool, to provide the entertainment at the event, which is being held in the Majestic Hotel in Harrogate. The Rockits are a fantastic group, and their performance at a recent industry event resulted in eight encores!”
Further information on these prestigious awards, details of how to enter and the booking form to secure Early Bird Discount tickets for the awards and party night are available from Pat Flynn on telephone (+44) 07778 313623 or e-mail: pat@petquip.com; or from the PetQuip secretariat on 01959 565995 or e-mail: info@petquip.com
The banner which appears on the Not Just Pets website.
