Facing the future: industry leaders on the long-term evolution of the global pet business

In case you could not make it to Czechia, we’ve brought together a selection of comments from a trio of leading lights on how the industry has changed, what makes it unique – and what lies ahead.

25 years ago…

Since the first GlobalPETS Forum (GPF) was held in 1999, the industry has changed significantly.

Chantal Saelen is Managing Director of Moderna Products, a Belgian plastics manufacturer that exclusively produces pet supplies.

She’s worked in the industry for more than 30 years after taking over the family business. By the late 1990s, she’d had some time to settle in.

“The retail landscape was becoming better organized, bigger – actually, the whole industry was getting more professional,” she said. “I remember from my childhood, seeing customers of my parents; a lot of them had a business that started as a hobby and ran out of hand.”

But around the turn of the century, she said the European pet market as we recognize it today was forming.

Torsten Toeller, the founder of German pet supply chain Fressnapf, echoed this observation. “During this period, the shift from mass to specialist pet retailing began to take shape, driven by a growing customer demand for premium products,” he said.

Is the window of opportunity shrinking?

The panelists wrestled with whether consolidation is making the modern pet industry harder to break into.

“The pet industry is likely to experience continued consolidation, with private equity investment driving this trend,” Toeller said. “Large players will dominate, leading through innovation and scale, while smaller businesses may struggle to keep up.”

But Pavel Bouška, Chairman of Czech pet food producer Vafo, said starting small is still doable.

“My first tendency is to say it’s completely different, and today it’s much tougher [to start a pet industry business]. We have much stronger players, and without concentration and big resources, you are not able to compete. But then I think twice,” he said, before reflecting on the smaller brands that have been bought up recently.

“It is still possible to start a good pet business and get it to the right size, even starting with rather small resources,” he added. “However, once you get to a certain size, things get much tougher. There are many more challenges, more regulation and other factors that make it a little bit more challenging.”

The industry advantage

Many of the faces who were a part of the industry years ago are still working in the sector.

Saelen and Bouška chalked this up to a unique emotional advantage of working in the pet business.

“We are not so much interested in short-term or one-shot deals, so you tend to build those relationships with different companies,” Saelen said of her company. “But what’s specific about the industry is the extra layer of emotion because it’s pets, it’s living – it’s almost human.”

She added that while most industries work with products, it’s easier for executives to feel an emotional tie to an industry that serves animals and their owners. That may have business advantages.

“I think it’s valuable that a lot of knowledge stays within the industry because when people leave the industry, it’s also knowledge that disappears,” she said. “It takes a while before everybody understands a new industry, so it’s good that a lot of people stay around in different functions.”

Bouška said that while data analysis has helped improve the pet industry, there’s more to success than that. “You have to be able to make a strong position on something,” he said. “So, that’s also different in our industry. I believe emotion and passion are the differences.”

Following trends and going global

Bouška said he remembers an earlier GPF in Venice, where he learned from another executive.

“I remember him talking about the development of the pet business and how it was going to follow the food industry,” he said. “It was going to become much more concentrated.” Sitting in the audience, Bouška recalled thinking: “Yeah, maybe, but it will take some time.”

“And here we are today,” Bouška said. “A lot of the things he outlined were actually very good.” Bouška said he also learned how to globalize from another past presenter. “Forget the differences, concentrate on the similarities,” he said.

Pet industry, 2050…

With new technologies, including AI, and scientific advances in nutrition shaking up the pet industry today, change is certain to come in the next decades.

The panelists have all witnessed significant change already, with the rise of e-commerce and consolidation. They each shared their outlook on the pet industry 25 years from now.

“I truly hope there will still be an added value from humans interacting and that not everything is going to be automated or virtual,” Saelen said. “Our industry might look totally different in 25 years.”

Toeller said he expects specialty retailers to continue to grow, while mass retailers may struggle to dominate the pet market. “Omnichannel strategies will remain central, as seamless integration between digital and physical retail will become the industry standard,” he added.

However, it’s possible that in already saturated markets, industry growth can only go so far.

“I have to unfortunately say that I don’t believe that in the next 25 years, we will have such growth,” Bouška said. “Maybe we will stagnate a little bit more in the future.” He emphasized that he would work to maintain the passion that drives the industry.

“I believe and I hope, and I will do everything in my power, that we will still keep the emotion in the business and continue thinking of pets first,” he said. “I have great hope in this respect. When I see our younger colleagues or the fresh acquisitions we’ve made, where we have younger teams, I believe that this emotional side of the business is very constant.”

While it’s unclear what 2050 will bring, 2026 will be here soon — and the GPF will travel to Istanbul from 20-22 January.

GlobalPETS Forum 2026