New kid on the block in Switzerland

Petfriends.ch currently has twelve stores, including two in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Ten stores have retail areas ranging between 500 and 1 300 m2 and sell pets (small mammals and freshwater fish). The smaller-format Petfriends.ch outlets with a dog and cat shop cover retail areas of 200 to 400 m2. In the first few months of 2019, the retailer intends to open another five stores. One will be in the Italian-speaking region, while the French- and German- speaking regions will each get two more outlets. The addition of these stores will give the company national coverage in all regions of the country. 
The range of goods offered online and in the bricks-and-mortar stores is composed largely of the wholesale assortment of the leading national pet product logistics company Delphin Amazonia AG. This delivers several times a week to Petfriends, which has taken a conscious decision to focus exclusively on the leading pet food brands instead of private labels. 

The first two Petfriends franchise partners are already running their own stores, and the company plans to expand further this year by granting additional franchising licences to Petfriends.ch partners. Petfriends is reaching out primarily to pet enthusiasts who are competent in this field and want to operate independently. The shopfitting and logistics supply for these franchisees will be taken care of in their entirety by Münchenstein-based Delphin Amazonia AG.

The complete range of food and accessories sold by Petfriends.ch is available in both the pet stores and the webshop. Online sales are likewise handled fully by Delphin Amazonia AG in a drop shipping process, with over 10 000 items available for delivery from the warehouse.
With this concept of a functioning logistics supply with all-round stock availability in store combined with home delivery by drop shipping, Petfriends sees great potential for the future against the background of rapidly changing consumer behaviour. "How many pet owners will still be lugging large bags of pet food home when they can be delivered to their door at a comparable price?" asks Petfriends managing director Marco Bächler.

The Petfriends concept is based for this reason on the interplay of bricks-and-mortar stores, pet competence centres and online shopping. Touchscreens are installed in the stores for direct purchasing online and can also be used by store staff as a digital catalogue when talking to customers. Shoppers…