Nestlé Purina launches Felix As Good as it Looks singles range

Nestlé Purina has launched its popular Felix wet cat food in a single serve format through the convenience channel.

Purina conducted research with Kantar and discovered that 42 per cent of pet purchases are made as an impulse or top up shop. It’s for this reason that the brand decided to make its Felix As Good as it Looks range even more convenient by launching it in an 85g single pouch format.

Coral Grace, Nestlé Senior Business Manager, told C&I that these are the first single serve wet cat food pouches to be launched through the convenience channel and they’ve been launched in response to consumer demand.

“Felix cat food is fast becoming Australia’s favourite wet cat pouch product and until now it could only be bought in a multi-pack format,” says Ms Grace.

“Until now you’ve not been able to buy a one-pack single serve format in the convenience channel for any wet cat food brand, so this will absolutely meet the needs of those shoppers that are looking for that impulse purchase on their favourite cat brand.”

The Purina Felix As Good as it Looks singles range has launched in three flavours; Beef in Jelly, Tuna in Jelly and Chicken in Jelly, with the Chicken in Jelly variety being suitable for both cats and kittens.

“Pets are very sensitive and so they need to have the right brands and ingredients, so we’ve found that shoppers are very loyal to the brands that they know and trust.

“What’s wonderful about Felix is the fact that the pouch format is becoming more and more popular. Once upon a time you would buy wet cat food in a multi-serve tin, but we now know that cats have 12 times fewer taste buds than that of humans, so that’s why cats are not necessarily fussy but they do need variety. Now you will see on shelves that there are more single serve formats in multiple flavours and that’s why we are launching the Felix format in a singles variety in three different flavours. We also know that the pet population is growing and so we felt that it was important on launching these singles that we did have a kitten offer as well.”

The Felix As Good as it Looks single range has an RRP of $1.30 and offers a strong margin return for retailers. It’s available through Metcash and The Distributors.

The launch will be supported on television for the next 12 months and the brand will also be pushed through the social space online.

“What’s great about the Felix brand is that it’s a really cool, clever cat and the assets that we have are fantastic so we’re going to be driving them really hard online.”