Winning advice: How to successfully pitch to Pets at Home
Posted: Fri 16th Feb 2018
Last updated: Fri 23rd May 2025
8 min read
Pitching to retail buyers can be intimidating at first. However, it's essential to present your product effectively to gain visibility and stay ahead of the competition.
Breaking into the pet retail industry can be a rewarding venture, particularly if you land a partnership with a major player like Pets at Home. With over 450 stores across the UK, Pets at Home offers a broad platform for suppliers and businesses to showcase their products.
Pitching to retailers
Sophie Fuller, retail lead at GS1 UK, manages the business’s relationships with major UK retailers. Here are her top tips on pitching your products to be stocked by retailers.
1. Know your brand and your unique selling point (USP)
The buyer you're pitching to does not have elastic shelves. They are likely to have to remove something to make space for your product. So, make sure you talk about the fit of your products with the customer or your buyer.
Is it filling a market gap?
Does it bring your retailer a new customer?
How does your product or brand fit with the retailer?
Be clear on the objective of your pitch. For example, do you want to show your retailer that your product is market-leading? Or is it perfect for who you want to work with at this specific point in time?
2. Know your competition
None of us operates in isolation, so complete a gap analysis. Work out the key selling points of your product versus others in the market and sketch them out on a graph, and then use this to profile your buyer to show how your product fits into this gap.
3. Get to know your buyer
Profile them. Research them on LinkedIn. Know their career history. Are they new to the business? Are they established? What membership organisations are they a part of? What are their favourite brands?
Don't stalk them, but get to know them and profile them. Know what type of pitch they are expecting and plan for it. Are they a detailed person, or do they want it short and snappy?
However, always be prepared to go into detail for your pitch, even if you don't always need to. And show your buyer that you know them. Add them on LinkedIn and show an interest in what they like and follow-up with them after the pitch with a message.
4. Be ready and know your capability
Don't run before you can walk and understand your limits. Here are just a few things that you need to think about:
Understand the lowest numbers you can afford
How much can you produce?
Will you have the money to reinvest in your company to keep it going?
Is your packaging ready for the retailer?
Think about it being fit for purpose and the specifics that they ask for
Do you have photos of your products? Will you do this yourself, or do you need support? Understand the guidelines around these
Do you meet testing and labelling requirements for your customer?
How important is exclusivity to you?
Do you have a market placement strategy?
Do you want to work with them, and are you prepared to wait?
5. Listen and take note
You won't know everything, and don't let ego take over. The buyer is likely to tell you things during the meeting that you can turn into selling points. If it doesn't work this time, listen, take notes and revisit with those notes in six months.
During your pitch, your buyer may ask you for terms, such as commercial agreements, margin, rebates, and settlement discounts. They may want to know your stock flexibility. However, as a new business, you are unlikely to get large commitments.
There are many things to think about before you go into the meeting and many things to listen out for during your time.
Watch this webinar for the best strategies for approaching, pitching and selling to retailers and how to avoid these major mistakes brand founders make when pitching:
Book a discovery call with these Enterprise Nation retail advisers:
1. Catherine Erdly
With over 23 years of experience in the retail industry and hundreds of businesses helped, you won't want to miss insights from this award-winning retail expert.
Catherine is a small business expert and the founder of The Resilient Retail Club. She is a Forbes.com contributor, a judge of the Good Retail Awards and on the editorial board of Modern Retail. She recently published her first book, Tame Your Tiger - how to stop your product business eating you alive.
She advises:
Before pitching to a big retailer, make sure you are really clear on your margins. Have a very clear idea in your mind of where you want to go in at in terms of your pricing, and at what number you will need to walk away. There is no point agreeing to a deal that leaves you out of pocket.
Catherine was also voted a top sales adviser in the UK by Enterprise Nation and named one of the top 25 retail influencers in the UK. She is passionate about how business can be a force for good and was awarded the 2022 Charity Champion of the Year by Work For Good.
2. Alison Metcalfe
With over 20 years of experience in the retail industry, Alison has had the privilege of working with renowned companies, such as John Lewis, H Samuel, Woolworths and BHS.
Her journey in retail has equipped her with a wealth of knowledge and expertise that she can now bring to small retail businesses as a freelance consultant.
3. Anne-Sophie Martin-Kukah
Anne-Sophie is the founder and managing director of The Ascents Group, a global marketing consultancy based in London. She specialises in brand and retail-entry strategies with expertise in FMCG, consumer health and retail. She says:
“Breaking into retail requires more than innovation — it demands strategic alignment with buyer priorities and consumer trends. Through my sessions, we explore how founders can translate vision into value, and products into commercially compelling propositions that resonate with the retailer buyers.”
As a UN Women UK delegate, she's committed to empowering female-led businesses and advocates for gender equality in the business world.
Watch this webinar to discover how to bridge the gap between having a promising product and becoming a dominant brand in the retail sector:
4. Sophie Eglin
Sophie is a business strategist, coach and the founder behind Market & Me, the small business community that grows you with your business.
With over 20 years of diverse experience across retail, hospitality and leisure industries, Sophie has worked closely with businesses from start-ups to globally renowned, offering strategic guidance and support to drive growth and success.
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