Focus on the pet  

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Shopping malls and live pets are the speciality of Polish pet supplies chain Zoo Natura, which operates approximately 13 stores. The privately run company aims to open around three new stores a year.
Zoo Natura’s shops have retail areas ranging from 140 to over 1 000 m² in size. The speciality chain is a subsidiary of the wholesale firm Euro-Zoo. The biggest store in the chain has a retail area of 1 100 m² and is located in Krakow, in the south of the country. It also serves as a template for all further new store openings. The smallest shop, around 140 m² in size, is close to the company’s headquarters north of Warsaw and also has the distinction of being the first Zoo Natura store, which opened in 2000. “One factor common to all our stores is that they are situated in shopping malls,” says company president Justyna Koszowska. The entrepreneur considers retail areas of 400 to 500 m² the optimum size for future stores. In the long term, the aim is to open a Zoo Natura shop in every Polish city with at least 150 000 inhabitants.
Always something new
Zoo Natura aims to differentiate itself from its competitors in the pet supplies business primarily by offering optimal service and top-quality advice and products. To do this, regular internal training courses are offered to the workforce, which currently comprises around 170 people, 13 of whom work in the central administrative offices in Warsaw. This training also includes special product seminars run by suppliers and importers. The individual branches are looked after by three so-called coordinators, who are constantly on the move from one outlet to another to coordinate prices and naturally also to monitor the competition.
Approximately 30 000 products currently make up Zoo Natura’s range. This total, already impressive in itself, is growing constantly. “We are always on the look-out for new products worldwide,” says Justyna Koszowska, “because our customers should always be able to find something new in our shops.” Zoo Natura is the first retail company in Poland, therefore, to offer interactive toys for dogs and cats. Another of the firm’s specialities is the presentation of fully equipped apartments and houses in mini format, which can then be occupied by small dog breeds. Luxury accessory products such as jewellery, clothing etc. are sold in connection with these.
The company’s best-selling products include dog and cat food as well as accessories. With regard to dog and…