Active on three continents

Even the origins of pet store chain Petland are unusual: following a visit to Disneyland, Ed Kunzelman, who established Petland in 1967, came up with the idea of founding a company that combined the two aspects of retail and entertainment: retail-tainment. The aim was "matching the right pet with the right customer and meeting the needs of both". Expansion in stages The first Petland store was opened in Chillicothe in Ohio, where the company is still based. Five years later, the first franchised store opened in Portsmouth, also in the state of Ohio. The first international franchised store appeared in neighbouring Winnipeg in Canada in 1978. Since the end of the 1980s, international expansion has progressed purposefully with the creation of Petland Japan in 1988, followed by subsidiaries in South Africa (2001), China (2006), Mexico (2008), and Brazil and Central America (2013). Adapting to the local customs and mindset has not always been easy, nor has finding the right partners to implement the franchise concept as envisaged by the franchisor successfully. "Registrations and approvals are often time-consuming. Costly trade-make infringement fights," said Joe Watson, CEO of Petland, in his presentation to the International Pet Conference in Berlin, citing another problem. High tariffs and restrictions on imports also hindered international expansion.
Watson demonstrated with the aid of the latest sales figures that the corporate concept is nevertheless successful. In the USA, Petland has enjoyed double-digit sales growth virtually continuously from the fourth quarter of 2011 up to the present. The company has thus grown faster than the overall market there, which grew by 5 per cent in 2014.

Investing in employees Petland has departments selling pets and a wide range of high-end products. Training and developing employees is a subject close to Joe Watson's heart. At 15-19 per cent, the HR element accounts for an above-average proportion of the costs, and so the company has launched a Petland "university" offering an extensive e-learning programme for staff. Franchisees are likewise given in-depth training before they assume responsibility for a country or region.
Watson is highly optimistic about the future of the pet supplies sector…