Communication as a success factor

The idea that trade and industry can together advance the sector with the right communications strategy was underlined by Meike Sommer of the market research company Symphony IRI in her talk: “A strong advertising presence with emotional objectives has proved a successful strategy.” She backed this with the statement that above all products with an emotional appeal, such as treats, accessories and toys for dogs and cats, are currently the most successful segments in the pet supplies market. Norbert Holthenrich, president of the Zentralverband Zoologischer Fachbetriebe in Germany, also had an example to hand of the growth in a product group thanks to focusing on communication with consumers: winter bird food. He said that the concept of all-year-round feeding had been communicated so intensively in the German market that the market was now reaping the benefits. Communication shouldn’t cease once the customer arrives in the pet store, however. “Are there advisers or only sellers in the pet supplies trade?” was his provocative question to the floor. Dieter Meyer, head of marketing at Vitakraft, also called for new information and communication channels to stimulate further growth of the sector as a whole. He said that new opportunities are opening up here for trade and industry that are just waiting to be exploited. Success with digitalisation “Digitalisation of society is one of the biggest trends up to the year 2030,” said Robert Haller, a trend researcher at Mars Petcare, in his talk about forecasts and prospects for pet owning in the future. The pet owner will have to be supported with services and offers 24 hours a day, seven days a week with the aid of interactive websites and smartphone apps. Pets themselves will assume the function in this case of an emotional anchor in an otherwise digitalised world. “Thanks to the new communication channels, the entire pet sector will come much more closely and intensively into direct contact with the pet owner,” emphasised Robert Haller. Carsten Eisele, head of pet product distribution and systems at the pet speciality retail chain Zoo & Co. said that even large pet store chains should embrace modern communication channels. He believed that websites in the classic sense were obsolete and the number of users was declining significantly. At Zoo & Co. plans were in hand for a large pet network that would be operated in tandem with the static trade and would also integrate the leading social media platforms…