UK pet market boom

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Dogs are man's best friends, and in some cases, cats too. Pet lovers are willing to spend much on their faithful companions. And in the UK, some have found a great business opportunity in this booming market.

It's a world away from the cut and thrust of investment banking but this is where former banker Adam Taylor is working.

He's one of the exhibitors at the London Pet Show - here to drum up business for his online pet food company.

Dogs are man's best friends, and in some cases, cats too.

Adam set-up PetShopBowl.co.uk shortly after being made redundant from Lehman brothers in 2008.

And although he didn't think so then, the timing couldn't have been better.

Adam Taylor, Founder of petshopbowl.co.uk said "I think setting up my particular business an online business, saving people money has been perfect and there's a lot of talk about, you do want to set up a business in a recession so that when the market's good then you're riding that good wave rather than going through the teething problems at the good stage and I would certainly echo that we've experienced that ourselves."

Britain may no longer be officially in recession but the affects are still being widely felt across many businesses.

But not so in the pet industry according to Beverly Cuddy, editor of Dogs Today.

Beverly Cuddy, Editor of Dogs Today said "The pet market is certainly booming, I mean if you go into a su! permarke t the part that sells treats is almost as big as the coffee or the tea isle, 40 years ago we used to give dogs a rawhide treat and a choc drop if they were lucky now we're buying as many treats for our dogs as we are for our children.

Adam Taylor said "It's been said to be recession proof and it's been growing at a steady single figure, it hasn't been in retraction at all and so that was definitely an attraction."

Around 1 in 4 households owns a dog in Britain - its a similar number for cats.

And with the annual spend on pet food alone expected to top 8.5 billion pounds by next year, demand for products are at an all-time high.

One pet owner said "He's got shoes, he's got dressing gowns, he's got t-shirts, pyjamas everything to keep him warm."

One pet owner said "Yeah maybe 200 a month it depends, sometimes more or less."

Adam knows not everyone has as much to spend on their pets. PetShopBowl.co.uk stocks over a 1,000 products at discount prices.

It's clearly a winning formula, the business - started just two years ago - is already turning a profit.

Editor:Xiong Qu |Source: CNTV.CN


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