“We are on the right track”

At the last Interzoo, your company unveiled some fresh ideas to speciality retailers to give new impetus to the pet supplies market. Have your expectations been fulfilled? A few lines took longer than planned to launch, and others were shown as pure concepts; i.e. should the trade show clear interest we would move forward with production. The new premium small animal concept Living World Green was one of these and as such was only launched a full year after Interzoo. And yes, we are happy with its sales development. We are very satisfied with specific new items within aquatic and reptile, two of our global strengths. Our new items in the cat category did well but a few other categories did not resonate as well as we had hoped. In recent years, the German market has been something of a “problem child” for your company. Has this changed as a result of the staff and structural changes that have been made? Top line sales in the German domestic market are flat; however, much of this can be attributed to a slowing aquatic sector and a reptile category that is not growing as before. We also finally ended the sales of our premium Nutrience pet food and this has a material impact on 2013 turnover. The good news is our cat and small animal offer has fully compensated for these issues. Most importantly we have a terrific management team and have improved efficiencies, margin and profit. We are on the right track and are preparing investments to modernise our logistics as we add an onslaught of new items and brands in 2014 to our offer in Germany and the balance of Europe. The aquatics segment is still having a tough time in many regions in America and Europe. What experience has your company had of this situation in the last few months? The specific answer is that aquatics remains under pressure and this has been the same answer for years now. Well maybe, just maybe, we need to stop selling the same products to the same people? We need new penetration. Aquatics in America are quite robust, at least from our point of view, as we have some new products that we have trouble keeping in stock. Starter categories, like Betta fish, continue to grow. The Americans even market genetically engineered fish that glow under actinic lighting. While Europeans may not agree, it is something that moves the market forward, as it appeals to a new generation. I cannot understand why the German market will not find a compromise to market Betta fish as a starter category. A proper sized…