The award, presented by Pets International Magazine (Amersfoort, Netherlands), was based on online voting by the magazine’s readers as well as voting by conference attendees.

A total of 220 people from 25 countries attended the conference, according to Reinder Sterenborg, publisher of Pets International Magazine.

Based on this year’s “Expanding the Pet Market and Your Piece of the Pie” theme, the presentations resonated with several common motifs: the need to pay attention to multiple, sometimes conflicting, drivers of growth; the need to reach into not-yet-mature global markets; the need to use new technologies to optimize supply chain operations; and the need to adapt product lines and shelf management systems to changing consumer buying patterns.

“Although many of us think that price is the main issue for the consumer, several speakers showed us that this is not the case. It is important is to make a clear decision regarding your market position. Opt for high quality and a corresponding price or choose to be the discounter with an acceptable quality level,” Sterenborg said.

The next Global Pets Forum will take place Jan. 18-19, 2007, in a location yet to be decided. For more information, visit www.petsinfo.net. [April 2006 PET AGE]