Market leader in Spain

It all began nine years ago with the acquisition of existing pet shops. A year later, the company opened the first of its own outlets and things have been moving rapidly since 2012. CEO Alvaro Gutiérrez told the International Pet Conference in Barcelona last October that at least 100 stores will be opened by 2018 with sales of over € 100 mio achievable. In the last three years, at least one new store has opened every month, with nearly 20 opening in total in 2016. With a new investor by his side, Alvaro Gutiérrez considers an overall figure of around 200 Kiwoko outlets a realistic proposition.

In spite of the ubiquitous financial crisis, which also hit Spain particularly hard, Kiwoko's growth curve has been impressive since it was established. In 2013 the retail chain recorded sales of € 12 mio and has grown fast, with annual rates of well over 50 per cent, to € 72 mio latterly. During this period the workforce has increased in size from 137 people (2011) to nearly 800 now. All the stores belong to the head office; no franchise model is in place and there are no plans to introduce one.
Around 40 of the stores have a retail area of 600 to 1 200 m2 and are located in retail parks, 100 of which currently exist across Spain and which are growing in number. These Kiwoko branches also incorporate veterinary clinics and grooming salons. A further 35 outlets cover 350 to 500 m2 and are based in some of the 500 or so shopping malls in the country. Here Alvaro Gutiérrez is eyeing plenty of room yet for further expansion, as he has already purposefully declared. The company is currently piloting a number of downtown locations. In June 2016 it also opened two stores in Portugal to take a look at the market there.

Kiwoko aims to differentiate itself from its hypermarket rivals above all with natural food products. Although over half of dog food customers previously shopped primarily in hypermarkets, the proportions are now shifting markedly in the direction of speciality stores. Staff at Kiwoko believe that its involvement in the natural food segment has played a key role in this.
Natural food products already account for 25 per cent of sales of dry dog food, and Kiwoko stores receive special themed presentations to advance the category as a whole. Alvaro Gutiérrez adds that customers too are gaining a better understanding of what it means to provide dogs with natural foods. The sector expert estimates the share of this product…