Flamingo, the Belgian company which has been in the marketplace since 1975, is today one of Europe’s major suppliers of pet products
“The range of accessories for pets has increased considerably in the last few years,” states Rob Hardis, Flamingo’s sales director. “Today it is not only a matter of dogs, cats and birds but rodents, reptiles, aquarium animals and pond dwellers as well.”
Flexible shelving systems allow for optimum in-store presentation.
So during the nineties Flamingo developed into an importer and supplier of accessories for exactly these categories of pets. As Rob Hardis explains, “Our assortment of around 10 000 articles is on the one hand made up of European products which we offer under our own brand names, and on the other hand complemented by imports from the Far East to enable us to hold our own in intensely competitive markets.”
Nowadays Flamingo achieves sales of around 22.3 mio euro (BEF 900 mio), 35 per cent of this abroad, with its brand names Jolly, Minnie, Birdie, Bittu, Aquality, Lizzy and Water Symphony. A workforce of approximately 100 is employed at the central location in Grobbendonk as well as the company’s foreign branches in the Netherlands, Germany and France.
“As a consequence of our high proportion of exports we have a well developed system of logistics which enables us to make deliveries at speed and react to changes in the market. All our articles are bar-coded and orders are processed by EDI.
We have ascertained that today’s average pet-owner spends substantially more on care and accessories, so have adapted to this trend by offering a very wide range to suit all tastes.”
Rob Hardis, Flamingo’s sales director, records orders and forwards them by EDI.
This positive development has led to Flamingo directing more attention towards subjects such as merchandising and shop-fitting. Besides that, our brochure with new products and information about the industry’s commercial and social affairs, “Flamingo Actueel”, comes out several times each year. On the internet too – at www.flamingo.be — Flamingo offers comprehensive information.
“Any observer of developments in the pet sector and the peripheral ranges will discover that here, too, the concentration of retailing in recent years has continued still further. Consequently we are making every effort to achieve representation in as many forms of distribution as possible, from the agricultural trade to the specialist pet retailers and through to DIY superstores.”