Hagen | Canada
Hagen, one of the largest privately owned pet companies in the world, keeps investing in innovative brands.
Long road
Over sixty years ago a young German immigrant named Rolf C. Hagen arrived in Montreal, Canada and founded the Hagen Group. Over the past decades the industry has evolved from mom and pop stores to large national retailers and pure e-com players. Hagen took a longer road and built brands for specific categories and channels.
Today the company has distribution and manufacturing facilities in ten countries and exports to many more. It manages market leading brands in key specialty categories like aquatics and reptiles, while investing in brands to cover fast growing categories like natural pet foods and omni-channel sales.
Successful brand portfolio
Late 2015 Hagen moved the production of its Nutrience brand from the U.S. to Canada. Later that year it launched Nutrience Sub Zero. This exciting addition to the Nutrience range has received tremendous market reception in home market Canada, due to its differentiating unique formulation and inclusions. Sub Zero has brought the best Canada has to offer to new consumers and has just begun to realize its global aspirations.
The revamped Catit product line is one of Hagen’s fastest growing ranges. Built as an omni-channel brand from the start, Catit has invested in five star product ranges, lower retail pricing models that protect all sales channels and brilliant social media and digital marketing. Catit shows that a symbiotic relationship between brand, consumer and retailer can exist.
Next steps include launching consumables as Hagen leverages its market leader position in key cat hard goods categories.
The Zoe pet food range was built from the start as a multi-channel brand offering pet specialty levels of innovation at a lower price point. Without compromising, value has been the overarching decision maker, allowing Zoe to bring higher margins to pet specialty (versus leading grocery brands) and higher price points and margin sales to the FDMC channel.
Future
The Hagen Group will continue to invest in its leading specialty brands, while transforming itself into a digital multi-channel home for market leaders in consumables and cat hard good.