Fressnapf still on track for success

Last year, the Fressnapf Group smashed the 4-bn-euro sales barrier with a year-on-year sales increase of around 475 mio euros, even against an economically tough background. While Europe’s leading pet store chain was able to grow by 8.5 per cent in the German market, increasing gross turnover to 2.072 bn euros, the Krefeld outfit increased its international sales by as much as 19.4 per cent to 1.928 bn euros. Big sales increases were notched up in Poland (+27.9 per cent), France (+26 per cent) and Hungary (+22.7 per cent) among others. Overall sales increased by 13.5 per cent over the previous year.

“Our business model proved robust last year also,” emphasised Fressnapf founder and proprietor Torsten Toeller. “The positive sales trend is based on the consistent implementation of our strategy moving towards the omnichannel ecosystem, the expansion and conversion of our stores, enlarging our pan-European footprint by the acquisition of Jumper in the Netherlands, expanding at home and abroad and the consolidation of our service offering across Europe.”

The Fressnapf Group is in the midst of the biggest transformation in the company’s history, it states. In the process, the pet store chain is changing from a product-focused supplier to a provider, satisfying all the customers’ wishes throughout the life cycle of their pets.

Alongside its varied product range, Fressnapf offers a growing portfolio of services, from online vet via grooming salon to pet insurance. In addition, a total of 240 stores were opened in the new Future Store format in 2023 or modernised to this. The stores are the physical interface with the ecosystem and connect the offline and online worlds at Fressnapf without being in competition with one another.

CEO Dr Johannes Steegmann said: “We will introduce the ecosystem with the services incrementally into all countries in which we are represented and roll out the Future Store concept. This will call for high investment in the future too and we have earmarked more than 500 million euros for this in the next three years. The investment we are putting in ourselves will focus on the areas of expansion, Future Store, IT, supply chain and human resources.”

Customers and their pets were unequivocally at the heart of the ecosystem, said Steegmann. With its ‘Friends’ loyalty programme, Fressnapf was not only improving customer relations but also getting to know pet lovers better, so as to personalise products and services. The loyalty programme was now available in six countries, said the Fressnapf CEO, and was a complete success in his eyes: the approximately six million ‘Friends’ participating in it were spending significantly more and shopping more frequently.

Compared with the previous year, the online sales of the Fressnapf Group have risen by 20 per cent. To strengthen the e-commerce business further in future, Fressnapf is investing in the online customer experience this year. In 2024, it is building a 72 000 m² logistics centre in Nörvenich near Aachen, which will primarily service the rapidly growing mail order business across Europe in future (as already reported in PET worldwide).