Opening of 300th store imminent

With 270 stores in Germany and 26 in Austria, it won't be long before Futterhaus, the number 2 retailer in the German pet supplies trade, opens its 300th store. The opening will probably take place before the end of this year, with the related advertising activities then being initiated at the start of next year.
Andreas Schulz, deputy managing director and authorised signatory of the Elmshorn retail group, aims to improve the quality of the stores on an ongoing basis. His strategy includes the introduction of more innovative product groups such as organic food, for example. Schulz predicts a bright future for this, and the recently centrally listed Herrmann's dog food will play a part here along with the Defu brand. The company also intends to focus more closely on sustainability in the future. To set it apart from its competitors, Futterhaus plans to include a larger number of exclusive ranges in its product portfolio in future. For example, a collection of dog cushions and beds exclusive to Futterhaus was recently launched in conjunction with the Karlie Group under the Summerbay label.

At its house fair, the speciality retailer put forward a host of new ideas for improving the quality of its partner stores under the motto "Ready for take-off". The exclusive Activa brand is to receive new, more appealing packaging in the coming year, and the introduction of the Activa Selection sub-brand should position the medium-priced segment more prominently alongside Activa Classic for the budget range and Activa Gold for the super-premium segment. New modules have been unveiled for the food bar, which has been designed to be more visually attractive. The number of chutes has been increased to 72 to offer customers even greater variety. The design of the shelf wall for the head end of the food bar has been changed to strengthen the visual impact at the point of sale. New competence centres Futterhaus regards customer-oriented competence centres as a good way of underlining its strengths and taking greater account of the customers' requirements. In the aquatics segment the store chain has developed a water analysis centre with JBL that offers customers all the products they need under one roof. The centre has deliberately been designed to be interactive to enable specialist advisers and…