Be different or die!

This will be the third International Pet Conference organised by the trade magazine PET worldwide, published by Dähne Verlag, and the conference organiser Management Forum, part of the Verlagsgruppe Handelsblatt. The chosen venue this time is the Hotel Sofitel Hamburg, which is situated in the heart of the Hanseatic city and offers an appropriate setting for the conference. As in previous years, the conference, which has developed from its inception into a prestigious sector gathering with a cosmopolitan flavour, will host around 200 delegates coming to find out about the latest trends in the business."Be different or die" has been chosen deliberately as a provocative title for the conference. The aim of the International Pet Conference should be to present numerous "best practice" models from the pet sector and also from other business sectors in which individual companies have succeeded in setting themselves apart from the competition with distinctive concepts. This issue of PET worldwide features the provisional programme for the International Pet Conference. You can also download it from the Internet at www.PET-global.com/conference. The final programme will appear in late summer.Topics and speakersSpeakers already booked for the conference include Torsten Toeller, CEO of Europe's leading speciality retail group Fressnapf, Paul van der Raad, COO of the successful Danish company Vital Petfood Group, and Dr Oliver Koll, managing partner of the well-known Institut für Marketing. As in previous years, the conference will be hosted by Ralf Majer-Abele, managing editor of the two trade publications pet and PET worldwide.The key topics on the conference agenda are:Year 1 after the recession: How the international pet supplies sector lines up.Tell a story: How brands can assert themselves successfully in the market.Theme-based retailing instead of product groups: The pet sector needs new ideas.Pop up retail: How retailers can bring greater momentum to the sales floor.PoS as the weak point: How trade and industry can work even more closely on in-store marketing.Making entertainment shoppable: International retail chains show their colours.International shopper insights: What consumers want.International logistics: How to send goods around the world quickly and economically.At previous conferences, the PET Retailer of the Year award was presented to the most innovative speciality retail concept; this year sees the introduction of a new award for the PET…