Pet Master, Hunter's first one-stop pet product center,at the ratchada branch of robinson's departmet store.

Business in pet food and pet care products is "irrational," says Daranee Limanont, PR and Advertising Manager of the Hunter Group Limited Partnership. Selling Amadeus, Sleeky, Stopp and Buddy pet products, the group has discovered that a business involving pets relies more on personal contact than on market research. Since the end user is not the buyer, one must appeal to the owner's feelings for his pets, assuming that he already knows what his pet wants and needs. A Thai-Chinese venture, Hunter started four years ago by introducing a mid-priced Sleeky dog shampoo.The product was an instant hit, says Ms. Daranee, and remains their best-seller.

The group has since launched variations of the special formula (which includes protein and aloe vera) and now offers a range of shampoos and soaps for short-haired dogs, long-haired dogs and puppies.

Watching trends in the US and the UK, Hunter's General Manager Chalermpon Boonkumsawadi, who owns 20 dogs and 10 cats (among other pets), quickly added other dog-care products after this initial success. Hunter imported most products initially, says Ms. Daranee, using as a guide what they, as pet owners, wanted to see on the local grocery shelves.

Later, the group ventured into contract manufacturing and began building up house brands - tick and flea spray and power, dry shampoo, pet litter, dog repellent, nutritional supplements such as dog chews and calcium tablets and accessories such as dog combs, brushes, nail clippers, food bowls, chrome chains, leather and nylon leashes. Sleeky continues to be the group's most famous brand, but new brands such as the premium Amadeus were added to a rapidly expanding business. In addition, Mr. Chalermpon began importing a variety of dry and wet petfood from top US brands such as Purina to test local preferences. "Since we did not have accurate figures on the size of theThai pet food market or details on the local dog and cat population, we experimented with what would sell," says Ms. Daranee.

Of their petfood trial sales, dog food took over 60 per cent, perhaps helped by the group's traditional niche in dog care products and its heavy involvement with dog shows, says Ms. Daranee. By 1993, Hunter was participating in at least five dog shows a year, where the group's products were displayed prominently.

Feedback from owners on the test sales showed special concerns about cat food. While dogs can eat cat food, cats, requiring particular minerals, cannot survive on dog food.

Acquiring and developing cat food proved to be difficult. Hunter tried to source cat food locally but packers were pessimistic about prospects because "cats do not product-specific and can survive on fish and rice leftovers." Dogs may also be able to exist on table scraps, but local dog owners appear more willing to buy processed petfood, probably because of the perceived greater economic value of dogs as guards or as pure-bred possessions.