On October 25-27, 2019, Minsk, the capital of Belarus, football arena hosted the first specialized pet exhibition Mirzoo. 100 exhibitors gathered together: manufacturers, suppliers, retailers, groomers, breeders, animal protection organizations.
The stands of pet industry giants, such as Nestlé, Purina Pet Care and Royal Canin, were neighbouring those of small veterinary clinics and retail stores. Overall, more than 200 global and local brands were present in the exhibition.
The exhibition combined B2B and B2C formats. The venue had several highlights: two presentation stages, the grooming zone and a conference hall for meetings and workshops.
Belarus is a relatively small country: it takes about three hours to drive from Minsk to the outer regions. The majority of the market players know each other very well. Therefore, the mission of the exhibition was not only to help the participants meet clients and make contacts, but mainly to build a stronger industrial community. For that reason, the major distributors, retailers and e-com players came together during the conference for a special briefing that was titled ‘Pet Industry in Belarus’. They discussed the current situation on the market and the prospects for the next five years.
At the moment, Belarus is at the stage of establishing and strengthening the industry. According to the key players, the value of the market is estimated at 350–400 million Belarusian rubles (145–165 mln Euro). Pet products are available in about 1,500 retail outlets, and about 1,100 of them are performing well and developing. However, most of them are evidently small. The market expects that Belarus business will have the qualitative growth: the number of stores will decrease as major retailers and retail chains strengthen their positions replacing small independent stores. E-com is in its early stage, but there is no doubt that it will be booming just as well as in Belarus’ neighbouring countries.
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