Exports of British pet products are set for a substantial boost following the success of more than 50 UK companies exhibiting in the PetQuip-organised group at Interzoo, which returned in impressive style to Nuremburg, Germany, last month.
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The British firms were supported before and during the show by the experienced events and research team from PetQuip and early reports confirm that worldwide enquiries have been received, export orders have been won and valuable overseas distributorships secured.
The positive outcome brought the following response from Pat Flynn, trade association manager of PetQuip: “We are delighted by the very positive outcome from our exhibiting firms’ stands. Everyone agreed it was fantastic to be able to meet and greet international buyers at Interzoo again.”
The British pet industry information stand hosted by PetQuip attracted unprecedented interest from overseas buyers during the show.
Carina Evans, of Podium Pet Supplies, summed up the mood of companies taking part in the British group, saying: “It was simply brilliant to be back in Europe and in front of our customers. The show was surprisingly busy with an amazing array of retailers and distributors from all over the world. We were really surprised and delighted to see things 100% back to normal.”
And Mark Hirschel, co-founder of HOWND, added: “It was awesome to be back at Interzoo after a four-year hiatus, and great to see existing customers as well as meet loads of new ones. Our plant-based superfood was a hit along with our Making Meat Obsolete bright green bags we gave away. We’re already looking forward to the next show.”
Dr Wen Liu, director of PetDreamHouse, commented: “For us Interzoo is one of the best trade shows to explore global market opportunities because visitors interested in our products are distributors/wholesaler/key account buyers from all over the world. Since returning from the show we have already closed deals for a new market, and we are now looking forward to working with more companies.”
It was a similar story for Group55, whose director of pet care Martin Breen said: “It was great to be back at Interzoo after four years away. We were delighted with how the show went – it was great to meet so many of our overseas customers again and bring them fully up to date with our latest developments and future plans. We also met lots of new buyers from around the globe, and we are hopeful that we will begin trading in further new markets in the near future as a direct result of the show. Our new product developments and forthcoming new branding was all really well received, and we left the show tired but happy with a really strong four days. We look forward to returning in 2024.”
For UK companies exhibiting at Interzoo for the first time, the international exhibition also turned out to be a huge success.
Cheryl Parry, head of marketing at The Barking Bakery, said: “We were filled with trepidation because it was out first Interzoo. But we had no need to worry, the response was phenomenal. We had interest from Australia to Abu Dhabi and everywhere in between and met some fantastic distributors that we would be honoured to work with. Now we are back on UK turf the hard work really does begin…we have a feeling The Barking Bakery will be global in no time.”
Founder of PARK LiFE, Richard Marles commented: “We've got more leads than we can possibly follow up on, so the next few weeks will be all about carefully selecting long-term business partners to grow our business with. Most interest came from the Nordic region, Benelux, and Malta, where the natural ingredients and playful branding of our products was very well received. People loved the simple and wholesome biscuit recipe, and this is what grabbed people's attention. But when they discovered our Milk Bones, they were equally as impressed with the premium recipe and how long lasting the product is.”
Dan MacKenzie, founder of All About Pet Health, reported heavy traffic to his stand at Interzoo with the first two days being particularly busy. He said: “We had interest from all over Europe including Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, France, Germany and many more countries. We had the most interest in our soft chew products and we have a number of healthy leads to follow up on.”
Amanda Sizer Barrett, director general of PetQuip, summarised: “We are extremely pleased to have received or seen so many positive responses from our British exhibitor group as to the tremendous work our events and research team carried out, both in the run-up to the show and throughout build-up and during the event. Their hard work enabled the exhibitors to get on with the job in hand without needing to worry about anything else.
“The British Pavilion looked fabulous and we were the largest national group at the show. We are looking forward to helping the exhibitors with their follow-ups from the event and to helping our pet product member companies to seize many more export opportunities in the months to come.”
Companies that are not yet members of PetQuip yet interested in learning more about the comprehensive range of business advice, market research, international sales leads and practical export support available exclusively to PetQuip members should email [email protected] or visit www.petquip.com.