Expansion during the pandemic

Dušan Plaček can look back on a turbulent few weeks. His company, the Placˇek Group, operates pet stores in its home market of the Czech Republic, in Slovakia, Russia, Latvia, Romania and Poland. Every country has adopted different regulations during the coronavirus pandemic, which is unfolding differently in each country, and it isn't easy to maintain an overview under these circumstances. Despite significant time pressure, he and his team have nonetheless succeeded in developing a finely tuned protection and hygiene concept that safeguards the health of his sales personnel while enabling customers to shop relatively easily.
"The key was that the pet supplies trade was regarded as essential in all the countries in which we operate pet stores and so pet product businesses remained open even during the lockdown," explains Dušan Plaček. This was not something that was self-evident. In Estonia, for example, most pet stores were closed for weeks because they were not considered to be relevant, he says. In other countries, the sale of pets was prohibited in many regions. Getting permission for pet stores to open even during the lockdown in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and other countries entailed Dušan Plaček together with other speciality retailers lobbying the responsible ministries and local health authorities hard and engaging in lengthy discussions with them. The politicians involved were finally convinced that closing pet stores would seriously jeopardise food supplies for the various species of pets.

Prior to lockdown and in its initial stages, the Plaček Group benefited from the fact that many customers stocked up on food, litter and straw products for their pets. In the Czech Republic and Slovakia in particular, sales were steady and only took off significantly online. The group's click & collect concept, enabling customers to order the products they needed online and then collect them in store, was especially in demand among older people. Click & collect was used much more than usual by customers at the height of the coronavirus outbreak and contributed substantially to the Plaček Group's smooth passage through the pandemic up to now. The demand for pets was also huge during this period, showing that many people who had to work from home during the pandemic or had even lost their job were using their additional free time to engage more with pets. Dušan Plaček recounts that sales in his stores in retail parks fared better…