Following today’s release of Pets at Home’s figures for the 16 weeks ending 20thJuly 2023;
Sophie Mitchell, retail analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers her view: “Pets at Home continues to dominate the market, adding to its solid FY2022/23 results with strong growth in Q1 FY2023/24, aided by its laser focus on its new strategy. Group revenue grew 7.9% to £436.8m as a result of good strategic progress being made in both its retail and veterinary arms. Most impressively, vet group revenue was up 16.6% like-for-like (l-f-l), supported by the opening of two new pet care centres with instore vets, the extension of its vet hospital in its Leeds Birstall centre store and eight other store refits. The strategic focus on unifying the brand identity, with Vets4Pets becoming Vets for Pets, will ultimately continue to aid sales within the vet group, benefitting from the brand equity of the overall Pets at Home brand. L-f-l retail sales increased 7.1%, driven by making its price position more competitive and an uplift in the frozen category as a result of new frozen ranges and a rollout of new freezer space across its estate.
“The strategic focus on an improved omnichannel experience will build on the retailer’s success of creating a connected brand identity. The period saw 4.4% growth in Pets at Home’s active VIP base, increasing to 7.7m, with over 22,000 new Puppy & Kitten sign ups and 18,000 new pet registrations a week in the vet group. This not only indicates the strength of the price architecture and services within the VIP club, but also stands the retailer in good stead in terms of having a loyal shopper base and access to data on consumers’ shopping habits for the relaunch launch of its app and website later in the year. The addition of its nutrition subscription capability to stores resulted in growth in sign ups for Easy Repeat, its dog and cat food subscription service, further demonstrating its commitment to an omnichannel strategy. This access to an abundance of consumer data collected from both its online and instore channels should improve the capabilities of the app, creating a more seamless cross-channel shopping experience.
“This strategic approach to retaining market dominance should keep Pets at Home on track to reach its current FY2023/24 profit before tax ambitions of between £132m and £142m, taking into account inflated costs and investments into the integrated brands, the latter of which will lay the foundations for future growth.”
