Pet Product News Editorial Blog:
Friday, January 22, 2010
U.K. Pet Stores Benefit from Climate Change
By David Alderton
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After a series of mild winters, much of the U.K. was blanketed with snow before Christmas, and this harsh weather has continued into the New Year. Many parts of the country have been left short on grit for clearing paths and driveways, and salt, too, was in short supply in some areas.
Consequently, pet stores have been reporting bumper sales of cat litter.
Supermarket giant Tesco reported that its sales typically surge by 70 percent when the weather turns snowy.
“Cat litter provides an effective and cheap way of road gritting during snowfalls,” said a spokesman for the company.
One just has to hope that those without cats, who may be unfamiliar with the subtle variations in this product area won’t have chosen a product that breaks down readily and is hard to clean up afterwards. Pine pellets are easy to dispose of, as they can simply be swept on to a flowerbed and used as mulch, being comprised of compressed sawdust. However, some clay-based products that break down can prove very messy when used in this way.
Bird Food Sales Also Boom
Another sector that has benefited because of the severe wintery weather is wild bird food. Few products in the U.K. pet trade are more dependent on the weather as far as sales are concerned. People simply seem to forget that wild birds need food whatever the weather. Nevertheless, with the snowy conditions, retailers are saying that this year’s sales of seeds, fat balls and feeders are already off to a flying start.
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U.K. Pet Stores Benefit from Climate Change
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