Page 3 - PET worldwide issue 05/2022
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Comment
Not afraid of stormy
times ahead
The International Pet Conference in Bologna was all able products – all of this may come to a halt in the
about the “new normal” and the myriad challenges next few months, or be reduced in scale. When it
it poses. This provided plenty of food for thought comes to pet food, Cappato expects a renaissance
over the two days of the conference, but also offered of the medium-price segment, a host of price pro-
interesting perspectives and a lot of inspiration. Vir- motions and new trends in pricing policy. For inse-
tually all the issues currently facing our pet sector cure shoppers, price may become more important
than ever as a factor when purchasing.
When even eternal optimists such as Europe’s
leading pet store chain Fressnapf describe the pre-
sent times as “overcast turning to stormy”, as was
the case in Bologna, the situation needs to be taken
seriously. It was also evident at the International
Pet Conference, however, that companies which
“If we trust in our own strengths and
have the courage to believe in what we are
doing, the pet sector will come through the
current crisis also relatively unscathed.“
were addressed: disrupted supply chains, raw mate- are constantly upgrading their performance need
rial shortages, record inflation, the purchasing reti- not be too afraid of the future. Positive examples
cence of consumers, climate change and in par- abounded in Bologna: the plans of Nestlé Purina to
ticular the topic of sustainability. develop an ecosystem, the future projects of Austrian
pet wearables expert Tractive or the transformation,
What did we learn from all this? Market analyst already underway over a number of years, of Belgian
Tommaso Cappato of Euromonitor International accessories manufacturer Moderna Prod ucts into
summarised the situation succinctly when he said a sustainable production company.
that although the pet sector was “recession-resilient”,
it was not “recession-resistant”. His conclusion was Bologna has taught us this much: if we don’t
that there probably won’t be any marked down- allow ourselves to be intimidated, if we trust in our
ward spiral in the pet supplies business. The roller- own strengths and have the courage to believe in
coaster ride that we have been on since the begin- what we are doing, the pet sector will come through
ning of the year will continue, however. Stormy times the current crisis also relatively unscathed.
are ahead, but sooner or later the sun will also
shine again on the pet sector. RalfRMaajelrf-AMbeleajer-Abele
The premiumisation of the market that was so Phone +49/72 43/575-230
evident during the pandemic, the growing invest- r.majer-abele@daehne.de
ment by pet owners in high-quality accessories,
along with the switch to more organic and sustain-
PET worldwide 5|2022 3
