Firm focus on growth

Mr Pet, Premium-Pet and Zootic are the three major players in Slovenia with 39 stores between them. Then there's the former market leader Tukano with ten stores, but its future is anything but assured (report on page 36). The picture is entirely different at the Zootic chain, which was one of the pioneers of the pet supplies sector in Slovenia (report on page 34).

Established in 2004 and with Ales Jamsek and CEO Borut Magister at its helm, the Ljubljana-based wholesale company Mimaja operates 13 Mr Pet outlets across the country. Retail manager Nina Bratina Filipicˇ can envisage adding another two outlets to these. The stores fall into three different size categories: four with a retail area of 150 m2 and two employees respectively, six covering an area of 200-300 m2 with three employees each, and three outlets that are 600-700 m2 in size and employ five to six staff.
Only the large stores offer pets such as fish, reptiles and small animals for sale, because Mr Pet focuses chiefly on marketing products for dogs and cats. Canine products account for around 60 per cent of sales, while feline items and all other products account for 20 per cent in each case. One thing that all segments have in common is that they comprise primarily premium products. In its wholesale business Mimaja distributes well-known brands such as Nova Foods, Lupo Natural, Ontario, Almo Nature, Flexi, Nobby, Ferplast, Karlie-Flamingo, Supreme and Beduco,  although the latter is exclusively for the Slovenian market.

Premium-Pet is the pet retail arm of Vitantrade. Set up in 1991, the company is run by Ana Matjasic, who took up the reins from her grandfather, company founder Ladislav Siket, two years ago. He started out as a small animal breeder, supplying the pet trade with animals and food. He was also one of the founders of the Tukano parent company Hobby Program, which he ran for three years prior to 1991. Breeders of pigeons and small animals have remained customers to this day and account for 15 per cent of sales by the wholesaler.
Vitantrade's first products came from Interquell. The latter's boss Georg Müller is regarded as a pioneer in the launch of Vitantrade. Other brands in the range include Allco, Gimborn, Versele Laga, Savic and Quiko…