The business has a long history in the pet trade
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2024 marks the 25th anniversary of Group55, a leading private label pet care manufacturer and home of much loved pet care brand, Animology. For a quarter of a century, Group55 has evolved and adapted to meet the ever-changing market, whilst remaining true to their DNA.
Group55 was founded by Stephen Turner in 1999 with just £700, and the business began life as an ecommerce business at the very start of the popularity of the internet. Group55’s first successes in the pet industry came from selling ultrasonic bark control devices and pest control products online. Stephen Turner comments, “Our early success in the pet space made me fall in love in the industry, I knew that I wanted to continue building our business in the space, and I wanted to work on something that enhanced the joy people get from their pets”.
In 2010, Stephen and Group55 launched their first pet care brand, Animology. Taking inspiration from the human, personal care market this brand was at the forefront of the trend of humanisation in the pet care space. Stephen continues, “At the time, all the pet shampoos on shelf followed the same pattern and they all looked like each other. We launched our sleek black tubes and bottles with bold colour accents and functional products with fun names, like ‘Stink Bomb’, ‘Dogs Body’ and ‘Puppy Love’ to disrupt the category and attract pet owners in a way that resonated with how they shop for their own beauty products.”
As Animology grew in success, pet retailers and other pet brands approached Group55 to manage their own pet care ranges and Group55 started creating private label pet care products shortly after. After a number of years working with contract manufacturers, Stephen and the team were unable to find the service level they required so set on the next phase of the journey and set up their own manufacturing facility in 2017.
Today, Animology continues to go from strength to strength both in the UK and in over 50 countries internationally and Group55 manufacture some of the leading private label pet care brands around the world, as well as personal care and home care brands. Stephen continues “We’ve been on quite a journey over the past 25 years, and it is a privilege to have been working in the pet industry for a large majority of that time, and I’d like to extend my thanks to the many people and retailers in the industry that have been part of our journey so far. We have always put the wellbeing of pets at the forefront of what we do and are champions in the space for compliance with regulations, which is why we continue to be the manufacturer of choice for so many pet brands.”
“The next 25 years will, no doubt, see much more growth as Group55 continues to evolve to the demands of the market and I’m excited to see where we are when we celebrate our 50th anniversary milestone.”