Small country, great place

Austria can be described as traditional with regard to the situation and development of the pet supplies trade. Fressnapf (now 125 stores) was the first foreign pet store chain to launch in Austria in 1997, this being its first expansion venture abroad. The pet store landscape was dominated at the time by countless small shops with a retail area of 150 m² or less, which played a key role as local suppliers in small towns and rural areas in particular.
Other pet store chains came to Austria as a market relatively late; the first Zoo & Co. arrived in Klagenfurt at the end of 2006 (now: 11 stores), gradually replacing the Tomy's Zoo outlets. The first Mega­zoo opened on 13 March 2008 in Vienna on a retail area of 3 100 m². Das Futterhaus opened its first store in Graz in 2009 (now: 37 stores). Regional pet store chains now include primarily Perro (9), Cats & Pets (8) and Top/Zoo (3).

While Das Futterhaus has set itself a target of 50 stores in Austria and reports sales growth of 19 per cent in 2016, Fressnapf has reported a 6.4 per cent increase in sales.
A large-scale decline has been observed in the number of independent pet shops; in the last two years, the number of such stores in and around Vienna has virtually halved. There are currently still around 60 independent pet product businesses in Vienna, according to specialist retailers and industry representatives.

In parallel with this trend, however, a trend has emerged among the independents towards specialisation. Garnelaxia was the first aquascaping and invertebrates speciality store to open in the centre of Vienna, while other market players are consolidating individual areas of competence such as natural food, holistic dog food or a comprehensive range of premium products for small animals.