Exploring new business opportunities

The International Pet Conference was held in Brussels for the first time. The choice of venue appealed to the participants. The evening before, almost 80 of them took part in the industry get-together in Brussels’ historic city centre with a guided and moderated tour of the city. Once again, the two-day event was able to attract genuine industry experts as speakers. For example, specialist retail experts Dušan Placˇek (Placˇek Group) and Torsten Toeller (Fressnapf Group), pet food experts Katharina Miklauz (Petco Group Austria) and Polina Kosharna (Suziria Group, Ukraine) as well as Jim Lamancusa from the Pet Sustainability Coalition.

„The International Pet Conference offers a wealth of information to secure and shape the future of the pet industry“ – with these words Ralf Majer-Abele, host of the International Pet Conference and editor-in-chief of the pet and PET worldwide trade magazines, opened the event. A personal conversation between Majer-Abele and Kim Bill, Head of Purina Accelerator Lab Unleashed, opened the packed programme. She gave an impressive account of the development of the pet tech community, with the aim of continuously innovating the pet industry and making pet ownership more sensible and pleasant. Bill announced that the programme will now be extended to Latin America and Asia.

At the specialist retail level, the event continued with two industry heavyweights: Dušan Placˇek, Owner and CEO of the Placˇek Group, reported on the current 400 Superzoo locations and the goal that every customer should be able to reach a location within the Czech Republic in a maximum of 15 minutes travelling time. He revealed expansion plans that envisage 230 locations in the Czech Republic alone by 2028 and 110 in Slovakia. Then Fressnapf boss Torsten Toeller took to the stage and began with a statement: „Fressnapf will be able to further expand its leading market position in the difficult 2024 financial year.” With an estimated total turnover of almost 4.8 bn euros, Fressnapf will have a market share of 24.6 per cent by the end of the year, including the online business. For the first time, international sales will exceed sales in Germany with a share of 56.2 per cent. By the end of this year, the company will operate 2 683 stores in 15 countries. Toeller openly admitted that the pet industry is currently experiencing a slight downturn. Fressnapf is not unaffected by this and intends to operate even more aggressively in terms of price in future.

The presentation by Katharina Miklauz, founder of the Petco Group in Austria, was also impressive. She reported on the company’s journey, which she embarked on with her husband over ten years ago.

The many other topics also inspired the participants. For example, Wayne Kemp, Group Management Director at Casco Pet, presented forward-looking ideas based on specific examples from the British pet retail sector and Polina Kosharna gave an impressive account of how she and her team in Ukraine are defying the challenges of the ongoing Russian war of aggression.

On the second day, the focus was once again on the major topic of the future of sustainability. Jim Lamancusa, Executive Director of the PET Sustainability Coalition, gave an insight into the pet industry’s path to a sustainable future, while Kirsten Ceulaers from Flamingo Pet Products presented her company’s concrete implementation measures. Another highlight of the second day was the one-to-one discussion between Pascale Sonvico, show office and sales manager at Zoomark, and moderator Ralf Majer-Abele. Sonvico offered deep insights into the enormous potential of her trade fair in Bologna.

The participants experienced a real wow effect at the end of the first day of the congress. „How human creativity and artifical intelligence complement each other”, was the theme of Andreas Axmann’s show – and turned out to be a rousing, entertaining magic show with surprising moments and fascinating illusions. The Petco Group Austria had realised this special performance with the cat food brand „Wow“.

Next year, the German Pet Conference will take place in Leipzig before returning to the international stage in 2026.