British manufacturer, and global distributor of automatic chicken coop doors ChickenGuard saw sales nearly double last year on the previous record-breaking year of 2019 despite the pandemic.
After the first coronavirus lockdown, ChickenGuard released research showing there had been a boom in the pet industry – particularly in chicken keeping – and it seems this uptake is here to stay. Benefiting from the rise in popularity of keeping hens, ChickenGuard sold more than 70,000 units throughout 2020 – an 81% increase on 2019.
Ben Braithwaite, inventor and founder of ChickenGuard, said: “After a year that has been a struggle for so many, the whole team at ChickenGuard is extremely proud of the growth we have seen in sales. We saw a huge increase in sales in 2019 so to build on that again in 2020 was fantastic and testament to the hard work by a great team of people manufacturing in the UK. We are delighted to have now sold over 200,000 units.”
EXPORTING
Living up to its PetQuip Exporter of the Year 2020 accolade, the Cambridge-based business added 15 new countries – including Russia and Panama – to its extensive exporting list, which now totals 65 countries.
To further facilitate the growth in exporting and mitigate the risk of Brexit, ChickenGuard has also opened a European organisation with a warehouse in the Netherlands that will supply product to countries within the EU, avoiding what could have been significant business disruption.
“Over the last several years we have strived to be market-leading exporters and were pleased to be recognised for this by PetQuip in 2020…” said Ben. “…and we are looking forward to continuing to add to this throughout 2021.”
All ChickenGuard units are made in the UK, at the company’s headquarters in Cambridge. Ben says this enables the business to maintain ‘stringent quality standards, reliable shipping methods and a high level of customer service’.
