On an upward spiral

Company boss Dušan Plaček aims to increase the number of stores to 190-195 by the end of this year. The 200-store milestone should then be passed next year, as the dynamic manager told PET worldwide in an interview at the company's head office in Podebrady, approx. 60 km east of the capital Prague. 
Like-for-like growth of 12 per cent
In the last year the company has made amazing progress, achieving double-­digit sales growth in all the countries in which stores are operated. Growth in the Czech Republic and Slovakia was bordering on 30 per cent. In addition to pet stores in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Latvia, Slovenia and Poland, the Plaček Group also runs a thriving wholesale business, which supplies pet product retailers in a number of eastern European countries. The group's overall sales in 2015 amounted to over € 100 mio. The company also succeeded in growing sales on a comparable store area by 12 per cent compared with the previous year.

The dog category, in which an increase of 54 per cent was recorded in the Czech Republic, for example, was the primary growth driver. Dušan Plaček  believes that the cat and small animal segments are also developing satisfactorily in the Czech Republic and stresses that the small animal segment represents a particularly good opportunity to get children, the customers of tomorrow, inspired by pet owning.Although the retail group also achieved significant growth of 11 per cent last year in the aquatics segment in the Czech Republic, Dušan Plaček expects the segment to stagnate here in the medium term. He doesn't anticipate any major increases in the bird and reptile product categories in the next few years either; on the contrary, he foresees a decline in sales here. 

His company has benefited considerably from the favourable economic situation, although in the last few months the Plaček Group has also taken some major steps to differentiate itself from its rivals in terms of quality. It has worked hard on making the outlets more attractive, starting with the store facades, where bright animal motifs attached to the front window in the entrance attract attention and create a friendly atmosphere. Well-organised product displays, wide aisles between the shelves and appealing pet sales enclosures are characteristic of the stores, which have an average retail area of 300 m². Store sizes range from the smallest at 200 m² to the biggest at over 700 m². All outlets are operated…