50 years of Sagaflor

Sagaflor started out 50 years ago with just four members. Now around 900 outlets belong to the cooperative, including 344 pet stores and businesses. Turnover from central settlements and its own business amounted to € 352 mio in 2013, while external sales by the member companies may be approx. € 1.2 bn.
In the pet supplies sector, the Zoo & Co. franchise system operates over 150 stores in Germany and Austria. The cooperative also has the distribution concept Tier Total, which has grown fast in the last year and now comprises over 100 outlets. Roughly 85 primary partner stores also exist. The garden sector is made up of the associated Grün group with 88 stores, the Bellandris system concept with roughly 45 garden centres and a group with 87 plant centre outlets.
The satisfactory development of the companies has not been achieved without some effort on the cooperative's part. In particular, the change in the structure of the pet supplies trade has forced it to make constant adjustments to its systems.

In 2001 Sagaflor created its own franchise system for the pet supplies business with Zoo & Co. to enable it to compete on a level playing field with the rapidly expanding competition. This was accompanied by an improvement in terms, cost advantages resulting from the use of communal advertising material, better service to members through a central system office, higher gross proceeds and a distinctive market profile. It was also agreed in 2001 to establish the Zookonzept buying platform with Futterhaus, among others, thereby facilitating the development of a comprehensive private label range. All those involved have ultimately benefited considerably from this, in spite of all opposition.
To be able to offer better market prospects in future to member companies that didn't wish to participate in a franchise system, the Tier Total group was created. This has developed into an important distribution concept within Sagaflor and now numbers over 100 locations. 
For some, especially those in the industry, the cautious development approach taken by the speciality cooperative wasn't fast enough. They bluntly demanded a more rapid pace of expansion without stopping to consider that increasing the number of stores doesn't necessarily always bring greater economic success.