Pets at Home pledges ‘uncompromising’ price focus as turnaround continues
The retailer is in turnaround mode after admitting the business “too often poorly executed price and promotional changes in store”.
Pets at Home has pledged an “uncompromising” focus on product, price, execution and cost, as the business looks to ramp up its retail turnaround plan.
Group revenue fell to £778.3m during the 28 week period ending 9 October, a 1.3% decline from the first half of the 2025 financial year. Retail revenue fell 2.3% to £679.9m, although stronger performance in the veterinary business helped deliver a 0.7% increase in group consumer revenue at £1.06bn.
According to interim executive chair of Pets at Home, Ian Burke, the plan is to become “the world’s best pet care platform”.
“We have a trusted brand, the most trusted and recognised in the UK pet care sector. We have digital data and subscriptions functionality that unlocks potential future growth avenues,” he told investors today (26 November).
In recent years, Pets at Home has built out its digital business, with a focus on omnichannel and “consumer centric” experiences. This has included the creation of a unified masterbrand, which Burke said has led to “positive results” in brand perception and using data for personalisation.
He said marketing has become “more and more targeted”, although it is not “absolutely personalised yet” and the business will get there in time. Progress will also be made to further integrate marketing to both vet and retail customers, to create a “seamless proposition”. Specific marketing campaigns are planned for new, lapsed and reactivated customers.
Given the brand has a community of 10 million pet owners and a decade of data, CFO Mike Iddon claimed data is a “great opportunity” Pets at Home hasn’t “ever fully realised”.
“Having the digital platform now in place, certainly for our retail business, allows us to unlock the data,” he added.
Price investment
On price, Burke explained the retailer recently invested £4m into reducing prices on over 1,000 animal food products by an average of 12%. Pets Club pricing was also launched this year leading to improvements in the brand’s value for money perception, which increased six points during the first half.
Pets Club members fell 2.4% to 7.9 million due to a decline in the active retail customer base. However, average consumer value rose £185 due to an increase in spend across Pets at Home’s vet customer base.
“We track a number of metrics from awareness consideration and, particularly important, value for money, and all of those metrics have gone up quite strongly year on year,” said Burke.
The business believes the “root cause” of its sales shortfall is product related. On the call, Burke said Pets at Home needs to look into fresh and raw pet food ranges, as well as “innovation” in branded advanced nutrition ranges. The product changes won’t impact customers until the middle of 2026. The retailer also plans to launch branded insurance next year.
Pets at Home claims ‘unified’ masterbrand having ‘significant impact’ on consumers
“We haven’t retained our competitive advantage in product and are no longer the primary innovator in the sector,” he explained.
Currently 14.6% of group consumer revenue is generated via subscriptions, up from 11.4% the year prior, in particular for Easy Repeat and vet Care plans. During the first half, Pets at Home relaunched its Easy Repeat proposition, which delivers products like dog food to shoppers on subscription. Some 4% of Pets Club members now have an Easy Repeat subscription, with revenues up 50% on FY25.
Despite the double-digit sales growth, both the exec chair and CFO acknowledged the launch of the Easy Repeat digital platform contributed to disruption in the retail business and “dissatisfied customers” due to execution issues.
“We have too often poorly executed price and promotional changes in store. And secondly, we mishandled the launch of Easy Repeat in store earlier this year,” said Burke.
Going forward, product promotion and pricing will be planned 12 weeks out to help make promotions more successful.
The ‘execution’ element of the turnaround plan will include “simplified strategies and better forward planning”, with the business targeting a £20m reduction in overheads and click-and-collect services set to become a lot “slicker”.
