In Saint-Geours-de-Maremne, the Landes pet store Zoomalia has become an e-commerce heavyweight in just 13 years. Today, it is developing a multi-channel strategy with the opening of 36 stores.
Pierre-Adrien Thollet, CEO of Zoomalia © Zoomalia
We discovered her on the web in 2010 through her brands of kibble and accessories of all kinds. Zoomalia, an online-only business at the start, then acted as a UFO as specialists in the sector were rare on the web. Thirteen years later, we find it among the French references in online pet stores with a turnover of 84 million euros, growth of 27% in 2022 and ranked 111th among the most innovative companies in France in 2023(1).
Faced with the economic crisis and the slowdown in online commerce, it found a new source of growth by developing a network of 36 local stores spread across the entire western area on the outskirts of major cities. By 2025, around a hundred stores should cover the entire French territory. This is one of the many objectives of Pierre-Adrien Thollet, its CEO. “Our priority is to work hard on this local offering, which is important for the future of Zoomalia and is a real lever for development,” says the manager.
FRENCH CROKETTES
These stores, recognizable by their sky blue, orange and white signs, sell a range of accessories for dogs, cats and new pets (NAC), 12 exclusive brands dedicated to different universes, such as “Zoolia” for equipment, “ Quality Sens” for health nutrition, “Iako” for rabbits… to which is added in-store advice. They will soon offer more specialized services, in line with its Dogwash, bathrooms adapted for washing your dog. “Fostering and personalizing the customer experience” is the challenge that Pierre-Adrien Thollet has launched to his teams for 2024.
In this same perspective, the company has just put on sale its own range of French-made “Crococorico” kibbles to remove users' doubts about the composition of animal feed. “We worked with the objective of offering a 100% French product, but also that at least 80% of the ingredients are guaranteed to be of French origin,” says Marion Paris, communications manager.
A network of 36 stores on the outskirts of major cities © Zoomalia
ANTICIPATE THE TRENDS
By creating Zoomalia in 2010, Pierre-Adrien Thollet wanted to provide an optimal response to consumer needs. “The initial idea was to offer the largest choice of quality products for all animals at the best price, with a flexible, fast and practical service and to take advantage of our web expertise to grow quickly in a market that is still underdeveloped in France at the time. We remained a pure player for a long time until the development of our chain of stores,” explains the founder. Its ambitious strategy and ability to anticipate trends will accelerate its success. The company experienced net growth of 35 to 65% in the first years. With a 116% increase in its workforce over the last three years, it now has 300 employees, including 180 in the Landes. The explosion of the animal market is no stranger to this strong growth. Today, one in two French people owns a pet(2) and devotes an average budget of 943 euros per year(3) to it.
GROWTH INDUSTRY
Pet stores have rushed into this growing sector, switching consumers accustomed to large food stores to these new specialists. Zoomalia's core target is between 25 and 45 years old. “It’s no longer just people in their forties who take a dog to please their children, but also young people who test their ability to take care of an animal,” explains Marion Paris. And these “pet parents” as they are called, push the doors of the pet store more easily. With a catalog of 30,000 references, “with us, the average basket is between 25 and 40 euros in store and 65 to 85 euros on the web”.
LOGISTICS, A KEY SECTOR
Another secret of the brand: the decision to maintain its logistics in-house and to automate stages also counted in its success. A way to respond more quickly to orders and have more flexibility for the delivery of 1.5 million packages each year. After two extensions in 2020 and 2022 increasing the surface area of the Saint-Geours-de-Maremne warehouses from 3,000 to 21,000 m2, the brand has equipped itself with state-of-the-art equipment.
Finally, its innovations are accompanied by an equally innovative corporate culture. Zoomalia is, for example, the first in France to authorize exceptional leave for “sick animals”.
Pierre-Adrien Thollet's entrepreneurial adventure continues to develop today, reinventing itself every day to enter new phases of growth.
(1) 2023 study carried out by Les Échos and Statista
(2) FACCO 2022 study
(3) According to IFOP for Woopets, 2022 data
