Top dog in Portugal

When David Gomes started to sell his home-bred caged birds in 1975, he could not have imagined that he would become one of the key players in the Portuguese pet sector 35 years later, with around 7 500 products. In the early years of the company’s existence, slow progress was made and accessory products and food mixes were gradually added to the range of birds. A plastic cage developed in house back then for presenting birds for sale in pet shops remains a bestseller to the present day and is still manufactured without any modifications. Christened Orni-Ex in the meantime, the company soon came to the notice of foreign manufacturers. Products from German accessories supplier Trixie became a feature of the Orni-Ex range in 1995 and made a substantial contribution to the positive development of the business. Orni-Ex currently supplies around 1 000 customers in Portugal, around 60 per cent of whom are regular clients. It does not supply supermarkets, even though the number of enquiries from big chains is increasing. “We have taken loyalty to the speciality retail trade seriously for a long time, and not just on paper,” stresses David Gomes. To keep traders and consumers alike abreast of the latest products, he produces his own pet magazine “Zoo-Cultura”, with a circulation of approximately 30 000 free copies. Four field sales representatives travel around attending to local speciality trade customers, while another 22 staff are employed in the company’s offices. A well-thought-out range “Quality, durability and purpose are the criteria according to which we seek out our products,” says Joaquim Gomes, son of the company’s founder. The range currently includes products from Trixie, Quiko, Arcadia, Dohse, Rogz and Euro-Premium. Brands with which traders were not happy are delisted again, even including the Sera aquatics brand. The company’s undisputed top brand is Trixie, which accounts for well over half of the entire range with roughly 4 500 products and drives nearly 50 per cent of sales. A truck arrives in Portugal from Germany every week. Joaquim Gomes is full of praise for the attention and service offered by his most important supplier: “Even if just one screw is missing from a scratching post, for example, I receive it a few days later in an envelope without any ifs or buts.” The appearance of the new reptile range “Reptiland” also coincides perfectly with the upturn in the reptile segment in Portugal’s pet product market. Orni-Ex’s own products for…