Brad Banducci and Woolworths launch PetCulture with Richard Enthoven

Woolworths is launching a fresh assault on the nation’s fast-growing $10bn pet industry.

Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci: ‘There have been a lot of COVID-19 pets and we are one of the biggest insurance companies, and what we wanted to do was share our joint knowledge and really do a better job of engaging with pet owners.’ Picture: John Feder

Woolworths is launching a fresh assault on the nation’s fast-growing $10bn pet industry, which experienced boom conditions through COVID-19, and has inked a partnership with South African-born entrepreneur Richard Enthoven — whose global businesses include insurance and the Nando’s fast-food chain.

The deal struck late last year between Woolworths and Mr Enthoven has created a new joint venture called PetCulture that is 60 per cent owned by the supermarket retailer and is being groomed to be a one-stop shop for pet insurance, veterinary services, food and other pet-related products.

Woolworths chief executive Brad Banducci told The Australian the supermarket group was already one of the nation’s biggest pet insurers, with Mr Enthoven’s PetSure a longstanding underwriter of its insurance products for several years.

Over the past year, Woolworths has witnessed growth in the pet category in its supermarkets and Big W businesses, and PetCulture has been tasked with building a digital platform to provide dog and cat lovers in Australia with a personalised experience in how they explore, shop, learn and provide health and wellbeing for their pets.

Mr Banducci said there had been strong growth in the pet industry, insurance and pet food during the pandemic, with that also shown in the massive uptake in pet ownership through lockdowns that saw the price of purebred cats and dogs skyrocket and many pet stores sell out of animals.

“PetCulture is a stand-alone joint venture that is in the process of being launched in partnership with PetSure, which is the biggest pet insurance business in Australia, owned by the Enthoven family. And they are the underwriters for the Woolworths pet insurance product which is growing really strongly during COVID-19,” Mr Banducci said.

“There have been a lot of COVID-19 pets and we are one of the biggest insurance companies, and what we wanted to do was share our joint knowledge and really do a better job of engaging with pet owners and providing them with a very holistic experience for food, or veterinary advice or whatever the case may be for the members of their family, the furry members of their family.”

The joint venture deepens Woolworths’ links with the South African Enthoven family, whose global insurance arm Hollard has operations across Australia, South Africa, Asia and Europe and also the PetSure business. Mr Enthoven is the founder and CEO of Hollard, and sits on the board of the Insurance Council of Australia. His family also owns the Nando’s restaurant chain.

The PetCulture joint venture was formalised in September and its directors include representatives of PetSure and Mr Enthoven, as well as key Woolworths executives including Woolworths director of people reward, risk and compliance Marcin Firek, Woolworths venture capital arm W23 managing director Ingrid Maes and Woolworths digital arm WooliesX director of digital and media platform Faye Ilhan. Documents lodged with ASIC show Woolworths’ shareholding in PetCulture is owned via its W23 incubator.

It comes as perfect timing for Woolworths and its insurance partner. During COVID-19 and extended lockdowns there was a surge in pet ownership as people sought companion animals with RSPCAs around the country reporting strong uplift in pet adoption rates and the prices of purebred cats and dogs rising sharply to meet demand.

The PetCulture site is still in the early stages of beta testing, which will allow Woolworths and its joint venture partners to learn from customers to better shape the offering to the Australian community of pet owners. The PetCulture product offer is different from what Woolworths already offers in-store and online within supermarkets and Big W, with a focus on providing dog and cat owners with premium support.

PetCulture recently hired as its chief executive Simon Smith, who has a track record of scaling up businesses such as eBay and Ola and has extensive experience across analytics, services and communities as well as e-commerce. PetCulture has been incubated over the past six months by Iain McDonald as PetCulture’s founder and CEO.

PetCulture is being operated as a start-up digital business and the management is separate to Woolworths and PetSure.

Alex Thomas, PetSure CEO, said its 20 years of servicing pet insurance needs would be complemented by joining forces with Woolworths and had become even more important since COVID-19.

“We saw, even pre-COVID, our pets increasingly being treated as members of the family and playing a more important role in the lives of pet parents,” she said.

Originally published as Brad Banducci and Woolworths launch PetCulture with Richard Enthoven