Daring plans for expansion

The speciality retail chain Pet’s Place is part of the Ijsvogel Group and the clear market leader in the Dutch pet supplies sector with 192 stores. The retail areas of the stores range from just under 200 m2 to over 1 000 m². Following the consolidation of the Dierenland and Super-Dierenland stores, also operated by the Ijsvogel Group, under the umbrella of Pet’s Place, the company wants to draw the attention of consumers to its speciality chain with its multi-media campaign, which is expected to run for three years. To assist this campaign, a TV series has recently started on the private Dutch station SPS in which veterinary surgeons and other specialists give advice to pet owners on current topics of interest. 21 programmes are scheduled for this year, with a further 26 envisaged for each of the next two years. The programmes often show scenes from various Pet’s Place stores and advertising slots at the end of each programme make reference to the specialist retail chain. Each programme in the series is devoted to a particular topic, for example dental health. Pet owners can easily locate a specific product introduced in the programme when shopping in the store, because the programme features attractive product displays specifically designed to accompany the various topics. These displays are located in all Pet’s Place stores.In parallel to the TV programme, there is an Internet-based survey at www.blijf.nl that pet owners can take part in. By answering questions about the living conditions of their pet, pet owners can obtain a calculation of their pet’s life expectancy. The “Blijf” brand is being advertised heavily in the TV programme, in brochures, leaflets and handouts issued by Pet’s Place, on the Internet and in a quarterly magazine for customers.The aim of the entire project is to make the Pet’s Place speciality chain more well-known, to increase customer loyalty and to gain new and detailed knowledge about its customers. The Ijsvogel Group is investing a total of € 1.5 mio in the project and has the support of numerous prominent pet suppliers. Ard Malenstein, the director of the Ijsvogel Group, is expecting to obtain 800 000 to 1 mio new addresses from the multi-media campaign and to achieve a distinct increase in customer awareness of the “Pet’s Place” brand.A further goal of the speciality retail company is to accelerate the standardisation of its stores. To this end it is planning to enlarge the retail area of 60 existing Pet’s Place stores from…