Page 26 - PET worldwide issue 2/2021

Distribution

Pets are booming

The coronavirus pandemic has brought a huge upswing for the
Austrian pet supplies sector.

by people to find things to occupy A particular beneficiary of
themselves is behind the increased the motivation of Austrians to
interest in pets. acquire a pet has been the pet
product trade. Speak to anyone
Pets in demand involved in the sector and they
As in many other countries, the nearly all confirm that sales shot
coronavirus has given pet owning up in 2020, year of the corona-
a significant boost in Austria too, virus. On the high street, the big
even if no data is available re- chains were the clear winners.
garding this. Pet shelters have Fressnapf experienced above-
reported increased demand for average growth in sales in Aus-
dogs since the outbreak of the tria of 18.2 per cent to 215 mio
pandemic, however. The pet euros, with sales across Europe
shelter in Hallein alone has re- rising by 15.2 per cent. Its com-
homed around 200 dogs in the petitor, Das Futterhaus, saw an
last year, as reported by the Salz- increase in sales of 14.1 per cent
The Fressnapf sales team at Vienna Neudorf in a good mood: the burger Nachrichten daily. Cats, compared with 2019 to 45.9 mio
pandemic has led to record sales in pet supplies retailing in Austria.
tortoises and other pets are also euros, a result slightly better
Many people have had more time very popular. The pet population than the already high increase
to kill during the pandemic, either was estimated at over 4 mio in in sales in Germany, where the
because they are working from 2020, an increase of half a mil- head office of Das Futterhaus is
home or they have been put on lion compared with the pre-Covid located. Even independent pet
reduced hours. Going out, travel period. Singles and couples in store operators told PET world-
and attending sporting and cul- particular are reported to have wide that sales have been sig-
tural events are pastimes that opted to acquire pet companions nificantly higher since the onset
have also been virtually wiped out for the home. of the pandemic, even if not on
by Covid-19. So what are people “The biggest increase has the same scale as those of the
doing in their spare time? They are been in the number of cats,” leading chains. Growth was re-
staying at home for the most part said Hermann Aigner, head of corded primarily in the aquatics
and making this as pleasant an the Austrian branch of Europe’s category as well as for food for
experience as possible by refur- leading pet store chain Fress- wild birds, they said.
bishing their property or rented napf, speaking to online portal
apartment, investing in their gar- Oe24. He estimates that over Stronger online retailing
dens and spending more time with two million cats now reside in The online retailers have probably
their pets – or even acquiring new Austrian households, nearly performed best. Zooplus AG, the
ones. Brigitte Lueger-Schuster, 200 000 more than in the pre- top dog in European online re-
Head of the Psychotraumatology vious year. Aigner believes the tailing, achieved sales growth in
Working Group at the University number of dogs to be 900 000, Austria of 13.7 per cent to 43 mio
of Vienna, told Austrian business an increase of 100 000 over the euros in 2019. This was roughly
paper The Standard that the quest previous year. in line with the average growth

26 PET worldwide 2|2021

PWW2021-02_Buch.indb 26 06.05.2021 11:37:20