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Exploring Animalis: France’s Specialist Pet Retailer
The retail chain Animalis (France) is the country’s largest specialist pet-store operator. Founded in 1996 and operating since at least 1998 in its current format, the chain focuses exclusively on the pet sector — unlike general retailers or garden-centre hybrids.
Business Model & Store Format
Animalis positions itself as a pet-focused destination, with a full range of products and services for animals ranging from dogs, cats, small mammals, birds and fish, to more exotic companions and terrarium/ aquarium needs. animalis.com Their format emphasises “universes” in-store (food, accessories, live animals, services) and offers a Click & Collect service (2 h pick-up) as well as online ordering.
Expansion & Market Position
As of 2022 the chain had approximately 40 stores in France. Under CEO Frédéric Le Guen (joined 2022) Animalis has set out to open a new store every two weeks, targeting 30+ openings per year to expand its footprint. GlobalPETS At the same time the French pet-market is highly competitive, with strong grocery/hypermarket presence and specialist e-commerce players. GlobalPETS
Services & Customer Experience
In store you will typically encounter:
- A vast product assortment (food, toys, habitat gear, aquarium/terrarium sets)
- Live-animal offerings (dogs, cats, rodents, birds, fish) in some stores, with regulated traceability.
- Membership/loyalty program “Carte Animalis+” offering discounts and privileges (e.g., 5% credit-back) via their website.
- Services like grooming, delivery, water-osmotised filling stations, and self-service groom areas in some stores.
Why It Matters for Pet Industry Professionals
For pet-industry professionals (the audience of PETIN.AI), Animalis demonstrates how a specialist retail chain can combine physical scale, specialist positioning, and omni-channel services to differentiate versus general mass-market players or pure online players. As we at PETIN.AI emphasise: For The PET Pros—we analyse trends, formats and retailer strategies that matter to manufacturers, distributors and store operators in the pet sector. This store visit insight yields three take-aways:
- Specialist retail still has room to scale when executed with clear customer value (expert advice, full-category breadth, services).
- Omni-channel (store + click-&-collect + delivery) is now a prerequisite for competitiveness in the pet channel.
- International groups (such as the parent of Animalis) see pet retail as a strategic growth segment — a signal for suppliers and service-providers to engage accordingly.
Disclaimer
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