A market on the up

There are an estimated 800 pet shops in Portugal, although the number has been declining over the last few years. Only around ten per cent of these belong to pet store chains; the rest are considered to be typical "corner shops", usually with a retail area of approx. 60 m² on average. Sector experts don't see any great future for these outlets in the face of the huge investment power of the domestic and foreign store chains. The pet retailers' organisation APCPAC (Associação Portuguesa de Comerciantes de Produtos para Animais de Companhia) has around 80 members, including in particular the organised chain store operations. 
No reliable figures exist relating to the pet supplies market. Experts estimate the market growth at approximately 8 per cent per annum. Around 75 per cent of sales of the overall Portuguese pet product sector are attributable to accessories and the dog and cat food segments. Although still extremely popular, the selling of puppies and kittens in pet stores is heavily criticised by animal welfare organisations. The adoption model for dogs and cats that is popular in southern Europe in particular is in the ascendancy in Portugal too, and is encouraged by pet stores.
The country's two biggest wholesale companies are Orni-Ex (Trixie, Sicce, Imac and Quiko among other brands) and Propet (brands include Karlie, Hunter, Bunny and Juwel-Aquarium). The latter also runs the Ornimundo store chain.

With approximately 60 outlets between them, Petoutlet and Ornimundo are the two leading pet store chains in Portugal. Both are owned by entrepreneurial Portuguese families, who finance their expansion with their own funds and are passionate and knowledgeable about the pet supplies business. Quatro Patas, a chain with ten or so stores, also has its roots entirely in Portugal.
Petoutlet is Portugal's biggest pet supplies retailer. Founder Adão Teixeira currently operates 39 stores with a total retail area of nearly 9 400 m². 23 of these have retail areas ranging from 90 to 200 m², another ten have between 200 and 500 m², two more have a retail area of 600 m² and the flagship store at the company's headquarters covers 2 000 m². Only three outlets have a sales floor of less than 90 m². Six of the stores have a grooming service, while one has a vet. Adão Teixeira aims to increase the total number of stores to 50 by 2020/2021. He reported sales of 8.2 mio euros for the store chain in 2017, but expects this to increase to around 10 mio in…