Busy days in the UK

“We’ve had two very busy days with visitors consistently on our stand from the show opening all the way through to the end of the last day,” reported Ross Butterfill, European business development manager at Casco. The PATS Sandown 2010 attracted 1 253 visitors, 31 per cent up on last year’s number (956). The show also attracted 111 exhibiting companies, 50 per cent up on last year’s number (74). A number of exhibitors commented on the increased interest from veterinary practices and garden centres. Alan Walmsley, marketing manager of Supreme Petfoods, said before the end of the show that he had seen visitors from a wide spread of geographic areas and a good range of businesses including larger retail chains, independent pet stores, garden centres and even one big agricultural supplier. Attractive fringe events An important part of this year’s show was the dog grooming demonstrations organised in association with Groom Team England. The award-winning team returned to PATS, offering an exciting programme of dog grooming demonstrations to fascinate and educate show visitors. The demonstrations at PATS were free of charge, well signposted and open to all show visitors. A new feature for 2010 was the so-called PATS Discovery Point. Launched especially for exhibitors who offer focused and specialised ranges, the Discovery Point was a must-visit area for retailers wishing to discover those somewhat different, niche-market products that have great profit potential. Some of the many brands and products showed there included “Lily’s Kitchen”, holistically balanced cat and dog foods made in small batches to lock in nutritional value. “Initial Memorials” is a tasteful and stylish range of pet memorials that can be easily created and personalised. “Lintbells” offered a range of high-performance nutritional and health products, three of which were launched at PATS. “Pooch & Mutt” is a specialist in natural, ethical, economical dog supplements. The company Bettacare is a safety gate manufacturer and showed two unique pet gates, both simple designs with full-colour packaging for easy display This year’s second edition of PATS took place in Harrogate at the end of April. 129 companies were exhibiting there. Download: Busy days in the UK (PDF file)