Penetrating the market

The first dog food products under the "Arion" name were launched in Spain at the beginning of the 1990s. Today, "Arion" is a brand built on years of experience. Nutreco, with extensive animal nutrition know-how in place, has three main centres of pet food activity: Trouw Nutrition International, Nanta and Hendrix SpA. All three sell their pet food through the "green channel", which includes outlets such as agricultural merchants, pet shops, garden centres and veterinary practices. The "Arion" brand has been registered throughout the European Union and is available with a unified packaging design. It is currently distributed in Spain, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and Portugal. Under the leadership of Lieven Miclotte, European sales and marketing manager, the Trouw Nutrition pet food team has grown from 7 to 30 people in two years, thanks to the country-by-country development of all "Arion" product ranges.Nutreco only uses verifiable ingredients in all its products and goes one step further in terms of quality as Lieven Miclotte explains: "An ethical feed-to-food approach is one of the basic values of all the companies within Trouw Nutrition International. Moreover, we have developed a system of traceability comparable to that used in human food production. We know where every ingredient comes from. This means that if there is a potential problem, we can immediately take action at the source.""Arion" offers four ranges: "Premium Dog", "Standard Dog", "Premium Cat" and "Standard Cat". To produce these ranges, "Arion" is dedicated to understanding every stage of the lives of our companions and to offering them the right mix for each stage. "Arion" has a different philosophy from those who believe that, like humans, pets want a different and varied meal every day. A food's effect on health is especially important, so it's not only variety that counts. "At every stage of their lives, our companions have corresponding specific energy needs which help to protect them against future health problems," Lieven Miclotte explains. The "Arion" brand provides an alternative to the major players in the market. Retailers and buyers alike welcome a range which is in tune with current pet food needs and is neither too wide nor too limited.Trouw Nutrition, in partnership with its retailers, is well aware that the market for derivative products is not yet as mature as that in the United States. But the continued…