Expansion in Bulgaria

Owning a cat and seeking out good places to shop for it, together with a visit to Prague, were the factors that led Georgi and Irina Papazov to hit upon the idea of opening a pet shop in their home town of Plovdiv, 150 km east of the Bulgarian capital Sofia. As was typical of such stores in Bulgaria at the time, the shop had a retail area of just 16 m². A second cat, which returned with the Papazovs from Prague, ate only products of a super-premium food manufacturer. However, such products were not then available everywhere in Bulgaria. The Papazovs thus conceived the idea of importing products themselves as well as running a pet store. Various companies throughout Europe were contacted and the couple finally struck up a business relationship with Vitakraft.
Georgi and Irina Papazov have made the transition from pet product dealers to general import agents.
The first five years were anything but easy, however: many self-styled “wholesalers” in Bulgaria were obtaining Vitakraft products directly from neighbouring countries, for the most part without making customs declarations or observing import regulations. As a result, says Irina Papazov, these products were traded at very low prices. She only gradually succeeded in putting a stop to shady practices and gaining control over the import of Vitakraft products. “But the downside was that retailers and customers now had to get used to prices that were inevitably higher”, comments Georgi Papazov. “Nevertheless, we now receive up to seven tonnes of goods a month directly from Bremen, and enjoy a steady influx of trade customers.” The Papazovs believe the success of their venture is founded largely on the extensive support they received from Vitakraft: “The people in Bremen gave us what help they could from the outset. And they never put pressure on us, or set sales targets that seemed impossible”, says Irina Papazov. “This business relationship was very important for our fragile and developing economy.” At Interzoo 2002, Felina extended its range to include dry food from the Czech manufacturer Vafo of Prague. This too is gaining increasing acceptance in the Bulgarian speciality trade.
“We still have a lot of work to do for and with Vitakraft to build it up in our country”, comments Irina Papazov. She supplies several Bulgarian wholesalers, who in turn have divided up the speciality retailers along geographical lines. Vitakraft products have recently got onto the lists of major retail chains too, such as the…