Jollyes Pets is on a mission to use marketing to set itself apart as a challenger in the competitive pet retail sector.
Over the past three years, the business has almost doubled its number of stores, with February seeing launches in Hartlepool, Ponders End and Whitehaven. This follows a strong Christmas trading period, with total sales up 10.4% from 1 to 24 December.
Jollyes Pets is on a mission to use marketing to set itself apart as a challenger in the competitive pet retail sector.
Over the past three years, the business has almost doubled its number of stores, with February seeing launches in Hartlepool, Ponders End and Whitehaven. This follows a strong Christmas trading period, with total sales up 10.4% from 1 to 24 December.
Earlier this month, the chain also appointed former Aldi, Dunelm and Asda marketer Sean McGinty as CMO. He says the team are set to “put the customer at the centre of the business”, especially as the business sees marketing as “an absolute growth engine for the business”. The CMO sees the role of marketing being to make the most of Jollyes’ “absolutely fantastic” proposition.
“It is super customer focused, super high quality. Once you get into the range, you really get to see that it’s a specialist – it’s a value specialist – which doesn’t really exist in many other types of markets,” he notes.
It’s not enough just to have some stores dotted around the country, even though we’re a very store-focused business.
Sean McGinty, Jollyes Pets
Explaining Jollyes has “low awareness” of around 15%, McGinty sees a “huge opportunity for marketing to come and make a difference”. The business is working towards building awareness by changing its storefronts to ‘Jollyes Pets’ rather than ‘Jollyes, the pet people’ to make the brand’s offering clearly visible in retail parks.
Jollyes is already positioned as a value retailer within the pet world, but McGinty believes the brand can be “unapologetic about value while still investing in the brand”, a lesson taken from his four years as Aldi UK marketing director.
This month, the business launched its first value range ‘Simply Jollyes’, featuring 22 essential products. While the company specialises in offering value, some products can still reach upwards of £100, meaning the range was designed to offer competitive pricing on products customers can get in other retailers.
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McGinty explains the brand wants to offer the best value, which doesn’t necessarily mean the lowest prices on everything.
“The main thing about Jollyes is those products are not low price and low quality, they’re low price, high quality – they’re great value. So, as part of our value mix, the Simply Jollyes piece gives us that lowest price. But it just cements the confidence that we’re a low price retailer across everything else,” he states.
Data-driven
Loyalty schemes also have a part to play in the brand’s value offer. Currently, around 80% of transactions go through Jollyes’ Pet Club, meaning the brand has access to data about shoppers’ habits, as well as the health and life stages of their animals.
This year, the data from the loyalty scheme is being used to make offers personalised to shoppers, building upon the value proposition. The personalised data is also helping the retailer lean into the “humanisation trend” across pet retail, which McGinty defines as personalisation for shoppers based on pet needs.
“All the things that a human wants, there are versions of that product in the mix for pets. It’s a real focus to make it as easy as possible for people who care about their pets to be able to care about them in the best way,” he adds.
Once you get into the range, you really get to see that it’s a specialist – it’s a value specialist – which doesn’t really exist in many other types of markets.
Sean McGinty, Jollyes Pets
Elsewhere, McGinty wants to go where customers are, which means being “all over social”. The brand already has a presence on social media, but is now “taking a very close look” at social commerce such as TikTok Shop. These platforms are where the CMO sees customers having “one-to-one conversations with brands”.
“It’s not enough just to have some stores dotted around the country, even though we’re a very store-focused business. To drive awareness, we need to be where customers are having those conversations,” claims McGinty.
He insists shops are still “the heart of the brand” and digital should “amplify the strength of the stores”, even as Jollyes looks to grow its online business. Both work hand in hand, the ultimate goal being a “joined-up experience” as customers move “seamlessly” between online and in store.
“Marketing is really focused on driving that footfall locally, while using digital to remove the friction and to add value,” McGinty explains.
Going forward, he plans to collaborate closely with the brand’s data science team to measure the effectiveness of the plan, which is important as “every penny” the marketers spend needs to be accounted for.
“For a small business, it’s actually more set up from a marketing effectiveness point of view than many businesses, I would say, because we’re so focused on that kind of EBITDA level growth,” he notes.
Marketing at every level
Compared to his time at major retailers like Dunelm, Aldi, Debenhams, Asda and Walmart, McGinty explains that moving to a smaller business gives him an “exciting challenge”. This is also his first CMO role, which McGinty feels is the “right move” in his career.
Being a first time CMO, particularly of a smaller business, also means he is involved in “80% of the activities that are happening across the board” and is in at least the planning phase for every piece of activity. He claims this also means the “customer is involved much more than they normally would be” throughout the business.
McGinty explains marketing is closely connected to commercial, his belief being the customer should be at the heart of those conversations at all times.
You’ve got to be better than ever as a marketer to try and stand out from the crowd.
Sean McGinty, Jollyes Pets
From his roles at bigger retailers, his biggest learning is that “real growth comes from clarity, not complexity”. He explains that working at bigger businesses means you have “retail rigor, clear priorities, tight measurement” and a real focus on what drives customer behaviour.
Based on his years in the retail sector, McGinty believes marketing has evolved and the customer holds more “power” given the “unbelievable” array of choice presented to them.
“The competition has gone through the roof. You can be a massive business and you can be a tiny business, and you can sit next to each other on Google Shopping. And so you’ve both got the same level of awareness as a customer’s shopping. And smaller brands are finding their way through in every industry,” he claims.
“You’ve got to be better than ever as a marketer to try and stand out from the crowd.”
With this in mind, McGinty’s plan is to disrupt the market with its value proposition and do “lots of things Jollyes wouldn’t have done in the past”.