Stephen Warner (Absolute Pets): “Customers enjoy the flexibility of quick delivery so there’s less need for subscriptions”

With more than 200 stores nationwide, Absolute Pets aims to solidify its position as a premium destination for pet parents. As Amazon and Walmart enter the market, the Cape Town based company is focusing on competitiveness and accelerating its online expansion, with e-commerce sales growing by over 30%.

CEO Stephen Warner outlines the company’s expansion strategy, discusses digital growth and explains how the retailer plans to stay ahead in the market by remaining at the forefront of pet trends.

Retail group Woolworths acquired a majority stake in 2024. How has this changed the way Absolute Pets operates?

Woolworths is a really good partner, because its customers are very similar to ours. Obviously, pet specialty and vet-recommended food are only sold through a pet specialty channel. So a lot of shoppers who go to buy their groceries at Woolworths then get their pet supplies from Absolute Pets.

This also helps in expanding your retail presence…

Woolworths as an organization has a long history, an exceptional reputation for quality and strong capabilities, so we’ve learnt from them. And because it’s a bigger retailer opening stores on a regular basis, that has obviously helped to accelerate our store rollout too.

Our property team is in regular discussions with landlords about opening new stores. Now, when Woolworths is entering a new location as part of a new development, they include Absolute Pets in conversations with property developers. This allows us to engage at a very early stage and secure prime locations.

There hasn’t necessarily been much change to the way we operate, as the Absolute Pets model has been working well for the company. But it has of course opened doors to more opportunities and expertise, which will certainly impact the way we move forward.

Which store openings near Woolworths locations have worked well for you?

Woolworths opened a store at a new center in Paarl, just north of Cape Town, and Absolute Pets launched a store at the same location.

If Woolworths is already in the center, they may identify available or soon-to-be-available spaces during discussions with the landlord, which are then considered for Absolute Pets.

These locations of course work well for Absolute Pets, and have in the past, as our shopper demographic is very similar. A Woolworths shopper who is also a pet owner has the convenience of a specialty pet store at the same location. A new store in Pretoria is set to open in 2026, and several other openings are in the pipeline.

How has this affected customer traffic and brand awareness?

It is primarily about adjacency. The stores remain separate, with their own entrances and checkout points, so the customer journey has not changed significantly. Historically, Absolute Pets stores were often located just outside a Woolworths entrance or exit, so this proximity is not new. But one key opportunity lies in customer awareness.

Around 32% of shoppers who purchase at Woolworths were unaware of Absolute Pets. This represents a significant opportunity: simply increasing awareness can strengthen brand recognition and clearly position Absolute Pets as a destination for specialist pet food.

There are also promising marketing opportunities through Woolworths’ channels. Absolute Pets has been presented to the Woolworths customer base in various ways, helping to extend reach and engage new customers.

Any plans to integrate Absolute Pets into Woolworths stores too?

Not at the moment. The big brands within the South African space need a dedicated pet specialty offering. A ‘store-within-a-store’ concept doesn’t work in terms of their criteria for being pet specialty. We’ve engaged with them on that aspect, but it’s not something we’re pursuing for now. Obviously, we’ll keep an eye on it, to see if guidelines or guardrails change.

Which customer demographics are driving premium pet purchases?

From a generational perspective, 18 to 34-year-olds are twice as likely to buy premium accessories. Younger generations are embracing pet humanization more strongly than older generations, even though our biggest spending group is aged 35-54, as they’re the most economically active. Pet humanization behaviors are the strongest among 25 to 40-year-olds, and couples without children tend to spend more on pets than those with kids.

In 2023, you said that within the next three to five years you were aiming to add around 100 stores, covering approximately 85% of the market. Does this plan still hold?

We opened our 200th store last December, which was a major milestone. I think we have a really strong and experienced team and a great portfolio of stores.

The store location is so important in the South African context, which is a bit different to the European and US markets, where there are much bigger box formats and people make a dedicated trip to purchase their pet supplies.

In South Africa, the bigger box retailers have not performed as well as they have in other geographies, and it’s been more about convenience. So for us, there’s a huge amount of value in being in a good center that is close to one of the supermarkets, particularly Woolworths because of the strong alignment.

In 2025, we opened in the Eastern Cape city of East London for the first time – one of the major metropolises we hadn’t yet entered. In terms of coverage, we may not quite have reached 85%, but we’re getting very close now.

What are the plans for store openings in 2026?

We are targeting 20-25 new stores in the coming year. But it is always about profitable growth, so it is not just about achieving the store numbers. We only want to open stores that will be viable.

How is your online strategy performing?

In the South African context, the latest data shows that e-commerce accounts for about 10% of pet specialty sales, which is still low compared to other markets. E-commerce remains the fastest-growing part of our business, with 33% growth in online sales. We also see that, depending on the delivery method, the basket size is roughly double that of in-store purchases.

We’ve invested heavily in our e-commerce capabilities and we see customers shopping across both channels. By far the largest cohort of our customers shop across both brick and mortar and e-commerce, while pure-play online shoppers make up less than 10%.

What about on-demand and quick delivery?

We provide an on-demand delivery service that delivers in as little as 60 minutes through our own app. With 200 stores, Absolute Pets is well positioned to reach a wide customer base and fulfill the promise we make to our customers. We also work with a third-party logistics provider for deliveries, fully integrated into their system, and have strategic partnerships with leading ordering and delivery platforms in South Africa.

The economics of e-commerce are critical and we’re careful not to cannibalize profitable brick-and-mortar sales with unprofitable online sales. Pricing is kept consistent across in-store and e-commerce, ensuring the business remains viable. This strategy has proven effective: we see that e-commerce basket sizes are significantly higher than in our physical stores.

Are subscriptions a key part of your growth plans?

In South Africa, subscriptions are well established, but penetration isn’t the same as in markets like the US. One reason is that customers enjoy the flexibility of getting products within an hour, so there may be less need for a subscription service. That said, subscriptions do perform well, particularly for pet food, which is both recurring and bulky.

In other markets, the model has shifted from the traditional big distribution center approach, where deliveries took one to three days, to a hub-based system. Now, there’s a strong expectation of same-day delivery – or even faster – with orders often coming straight from stores.

Amazon recently entered South Africa. Have you seen any impact from a competition point of view?

The overall impact on retail is yet to be fully felt. We’ve also seen Walmart enter the market recently, opening its first two stores, and Takealot, which is essentially the South African equivalent of Amazon, owned by [global consumer internet group] Naspers. Takealot has been a major competitor for years, so we’re used to competing with it in some product categories. Not all though, as it doesn’t carry the full range of products that we do.

What are you doing to maintain consumer loyalty?

Our loyalty program has been running for over 10 years already. The next stage in our app involves customized incentives and gamification to reward desired behaviors: shopping with us regularly. increasing basket size, and purchasing tick and flea treatments, plus treats as well as food. It’s an exciting project. We’re currently running it in beta, and a full launch is planned for the first quarter of 2026.

How are you using Al to gather useful data about consumer behavior?

If you’re talking about generative Al, that has started helping our business recently, though not so much within our customer loyalty programs. But we’ve been using machine learning for a while – to process large volumes of data and predict trends. From Absolute Pets perspective, the challenge is making this data more accessible.

One of our aims for 2026 is to develop a more user- friendly dashboard that can be used by more people across the organization. It’s an exciting space, and we’re exploring how Al can impact various parts of the business. We’ve traditionally been a lean organization, but we’ve used Al tools extensively in marketing, planning and buying – and will continue to do so. It’s definitely an area with a lot of potential.

With supermarket chains like Shoprite and Food Lover’s Market recently entering the pet segment, how are you differentiating with a premium offering?

We aim to be at the forefront of new products. Our team constantly identifies trends and brings in new items, often for a short trial period. If they prove successful, we continue to stock them. This applies particularly to accessories, but also to cutting-edge nutrition.

For example, when insect protein emerged, we adopted it early. Other trends, like gently cooked, frozen or raw food, are also growing strongly within the South African market. Private label products remain a significant differentiator as well.

Grocery stores often lack a service focus, whereas we emphasize it heavily. We aim to create a pleasant in-store experience with knowledgeable staff who we call Pet Care Advisors. This includes a high staff-to- customer ratio, to ensure employees are available to assist shoppers.

Training is another priority: our Absolute Pets Training Academy delivers foundation-level courses annually for all staff. Over the past two years, we’ve introduced nearly 100 new training modules. This ensures our team is not only friendly and helpful, but also knowledgeable about pet products and able to provide the right recommendations. We’re very happy with the results.

Customer service is a key performance indicator in our store scorecards, and we have had a very strong year. Our people are really passionate about pets and committed to both their well-being and the company’s success.

To further strengthen this commitment, 5% of Absolute Pets is now owned by employees through an employee share trust, giving them a real vested interest in the company’s success. This has fostered a positive culture and deep engagement, which is reflected in the results we see every day.

What is your strategy when it comes to services?

Our strategy does include offering services, particularly pet spas and grooming, but the market for these is smaller. Although services are part of our approach, viability is key, as they require a larger radius of customers to sustain them. If we have five retail stores featuring services within a 20km radius, we would be happy with that coverage.

We have opened two pet spas in the past year, which works out as approximately one for every 10 retail stores. Our first high-end spa in KwaZulu-Natal is designed to feel like a boutique hairdresser or barber, offering a premium experience.

Regarding veterinary services, South African legislation requires that vet practices be owned by a veterinarian, so our involvement would be through partnership models. We don’t currently have any of these, but it is an area we continue to monitor closely.