Co-founder and CCO of Weenect talks to pbwnews editor Justine Thompson
1. Can you tell us the company’s background and heritage?
Weenect was founded in Paris in 2013 by three childhood friends: Adrien Harmel, Ferdinand Rousseau and myself, Bénédicte. The company’s creation was born out of a love for animals and a passion to keep them safe. As we believe that animals are an integral part of every family, this was our inspiration for creating the company and what drives us to keep on going for all these years.
2. What is the firm best known for and why?
Weenect is most well known for its innovative GPS trackers that have been incredibly successful across Europe, to the point where they have become an essential product in the ranges of Europe’s principal pet retailers. We offer a product that provides a safe and humane way of monitoring your pets, avoiding the use of other harmful methods such as electric shock collars. Our trackers are known for being the smallest and lightest trackers available on the market, weighing only 25g and measuring 59x23x12mm. In addition to the GPS tracking functions, Weenect offers something that other trackers do not – training functions. The trackers can vibrate, ring and even be called like a mobile phone, which can be used to train your cat or dog to respond to the prompts and come home at the touch of a button.
3. Why would someone need a GPS tracker for their pets?
There are actually many reasons why someone would want to invest in a GPS tracker for their pets. The first and most obvious is for those of us who have experienced the shock and trauma of losing a pet and the eventual panic that ensues. Having a GPS tracker alleviates these concerns, allowing you to track your pet in real-time and see exactly where they are once they go missing.
Other people may just be curious about what their sneaky cat gets up to in its spare time, as we know cats are quite adventurous creatures! Or maybe they just want to monitor their dog and be alerted whenever he leaves the home or garden. The geofence function solves this problem by notifying the owner whenever a pet leaves a predefined zone.
4. How do you support retailers and customers?
We pride ourselves in our customer service and the proximity of our relationship with our B2B partners. For customers, we have a dedicated customer service line that is open seven days a week in over five languages, including English. A 30-day money-back guarantee is also in place for customers not satisfied with the service provided, receiving a refund for both the tracker itself and the subscription.
For retailers, we remain committed to helping them in every way that we can. We offer a free ‘demo’ tracking to each store that stocks our products, providing a free subscription and over-the-phone training on its features. This allows our sellers to be well-informed on the product and acts as a nifty selling tool (as well as being a fun gadget to try out on their own pets). Our sales team is also available five days a week to answer any retailer queries or concerns. To avoid anti-competition, we commit to selling our products at the same price in-store and online. There is no competition on price and no undercutting our loyal resellers.
5. Has the company been affected by the coronavirus pandemic?
Like most manufacturers, the pandemic impacted us in more ways than can be imagined. Firstly, our supply chain was disrupted, making it difficult for us to receive shipments from impacted areas and also to fulfill orders. We also saw a huge dip in sales, especially in the first months of the pandemic. April 2020 compared to April 2021 is like chalk and cheese. Our April sales rose by over 550% year on year, displaying our progression and resilience since the pandemic started. The same trend was seen in May, with a 178% increase in sales in May 2021 compared to May 2020.
6. And has Brexit thrown up any additional challenges?
Being a French company, we were active in searching for ways to keep providing to our UK-based clients without imposing upon them extra fees and charges. With this in mind, we opened a brand new Heathrow-based warehouse, fulfilling orders in under 48 hours to our cherished British clients. We thought it to be vital to find ways around these challenges and be proactive in dealing with them.
7. What would you say to those who have doubts about the product and its potential to sell in the UK?
We faced the exact same questions five/six years ago when the product was launched in Europe, with many people having doubts about the product’s potential. However, we are now present in the majority of major chains in Europe. The demand for our product lies in its visibility to consumers – if they are not exposed to it, they will never know it exists. It is a product that answers a real gap in the market and based on our know-how, it is sure to be a success in the UK as well as in Europe.
8. What are your thoughts on design and packaging?
We design our products with the safety and comfort of the animals in mind. Our trackers are the smallest and lightest on the market for a reason – we care about your pets and do not want to burden them with a heavy gadget attached to their collar. So this is at the forefront of our thoughts when designing the product. We also like to distinguish our product lines through design, by having a specific tracker for dogs and cats. While the functions remain the same, the design is different for the two models. In terms of packaging, we believe it is important to create this with sustainability in mind, by only using materials that can be recycled.
9. Are there any new product launches on the horizon?
Towards the end of the year Weenect is going to rebrand its logo and launch a new GPS tracker, totally redesigned adding many features. It will be a tracker that utilises 4G+LTE to get up to speed and WIFI to create new distance limits with the latest technological developments. As more and more countries move to 4G and 5G, we find it vital that we update our technology to move with the times. It’s a major step for us as we want to improve our market position in the UK.
10. Are there any company (or personal) pets who get to test the product?
We send a demo tracker to all of our B2B clients selling in a physical store and we also often send samples to members of the press as well as prospective customers. We will, of course, be giving store owners and buyers the opportunity to test our trackers at the trade shows PATS Telford and GLEE at the NEC. We will be happy to give a demonstration to any and everyone interested in learning more about Weenect GPS trackers!
