Lily’s Kitchen expands into China with new distribution deal
The milestone follows a series of deals in Europe, including distributor Eldorado in the Nordics, as well as Maravet in Romania
Lily’s Kitchen is now available to clients across China thanks to a major distribution agreement with specialists Penefit International.
Already the UK’s fastest-growing pet food brand, Lily’s Kitchen is targeting China’s rapidly growing five-billion-dollar pet food market, using the “word-of-mouth power of social media” with platforms such as WeChat to reach and engage more customers in the country.
The company, which expects to achieve over £1.5min sales in the region by the end of the financial year, is embracing a combination of online sales through major platforms like Tmall as well as jd.com. With sales live since June 2020, the Chinese market is expected to become one of the main export markets for Lily’s Kitchen – with particularly strong demand for its natural cat food products.
Thomas Bayel, international sales director at Lily’s Kitchen said: “After a series of successful launches and collaborations in 2020, China is the next big step on the path to becoming one of the biggest natural, premium pet food brands in the world. By working with the best full-service local distributors and spreading awareness through word-of-mouth, sales are already growing at a rapid pace after just a few months.
“At Lily’s Kitchen, we want to inspire pet parents around the globe to feed their pets wholesome, proper food. We consider dogs and cats to be part of the family and offer many human-inspired recipes which celebrate that relationship. Chinese pet-parents also see their pets as important family-members and are responding positively to both our cat and dog ranges.”
He added: “As in previous markets, our colourful, creative packaging is proving to have strong appeal, helping establish our brand as the go-to for pet-parents in China who want to feed their cats and dogs proper, healthy food.”
China has now become a “key focus” for the firm’s export strategy and the milestone follows a series of deals in Europe, including distributor Eldorado in the Nordics, as well as Maravet in Romania, Laboratoire Agecom in France, Van der Meer in The Netherlands, and Hega in Germany, as well as increased distribution with Fressnapf in Germany and Switzerland.
