Intersand | Canada

 

High standards

To improve animal hygiene through innovation. “These words written in bold letters in the main boardroom of Intersand really struck a chord with me when I interviewed for the first time with CEO Stéphane Chevigny,” says Carl Dubois, the newly appointed VP of Sales and Marketing at Intersand. “I simply felt at home working with a team that holds such high standards in introducing incremental improvements to its products through an obsessive quest to push the limits of creating value for its loyal consumer base,” he says.

Pushing the bar on technology

Intersand is best known for its famous Intersand Classic brand, the first premium cat litter to be introduced in Europe twenty years ago.

Keeping the humbleness of admitting that there is always a better way to improve the quality of products through the eyes of cat owners, has paved the way for Intersand to patent eight innovations and introduce the technology to many of its products. The company’s latest baby is Odour Lock, an Ultra Premium cat litter that pushes the bar on technology. Of course, having access to the best Bentonite (the clay used for premium cat litter) in the world through a long term agreement with BPM, a subsidiary of Halliburton – a leading conglomerate in the energy sector – certainly helps.

Consumer demand

But at Intersand, nothing is taken for granted and after many years of work, the company was able to find the perfect balance between eliminating odours even before they become a nuisance,
the dust level which is a pet peeve for everyone, and the size of the ‘clumps’ which translates into having to purchase less litter per month, a factor that will become more and more important
as people’s consciousness about the environment increases.

Retailers usually welcome and endorse innovation quickly as a way to maintain pace with their most demanding and informed customers. The last thing a retailer needs is to be told that the traffic in their store is decreasing because they have not kept pace with product innovations. Consumers are informed and demanding, and very intolerant when it comes to having to wait to experiment new things.

Value through innovation

Let’s be clear, in today’s world of open markets and light-speed communications, having a robust pipeline of innovation is not a luxury. “Be prepared to fight hard on cost with your competitors and customers if you are not going to create value through innovation,” insists Dubois.

For Intersand, in this world of I-want- the-best-and-the-most-exciting- innovation-at-the-lowest-cost-or-I-will- get-it-somewhere-else, there is a blue ocean of opportunities as the innovation process is part of the company’s DNA.

All of the company’s ninety employees are also very demanding consumers
and being demanding has been a key ingredient to attracting talented people and fresh capital to Intersand. And after 24 years as the company’s CEO, Stéphane Chevigny is more excited than ever about the future of the industry and the opportunities that innovation will bring to the organization.