Rufus & Coco - Company of the Year – Consumer Products

Company: Rufus & Coco, Sydney NSW
Company Description: Rufus & Coco is Australia’s most awarded pet care brand, offering fashionable, affordable, and more environmental pet care products. We’re for pets who deserve the world. Australian owned and globally stocked, Rufus & Coco’s accolades include eight Australian Business Awards for product excellence and innovation, and a proud win in the 2016 Telstra Business Awards in the NSW Micro Business categor
Nomination Category: Company/Organization Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Company of the Year – Consumer Products – More Than 10 Employees

Nomination Title: Rufus & Coco

Rufus & Coco was founded in 2008 by entrepreneur Anneke van den Broek who having built a successful corporate career in marketing brought to life her vision of building a lifestyle pet brand offering fashionable, affordable, natural and quality pet care products unlike anything that was available at the time.

Rufus & Coco has since grown from a start-up to the number one and largest privately-owned pet business in the pet accessories category selling into grocery, pet speciality stores and ranged in 11 countries globally. The business now also includes a pet grooming salon, The Fur Salon.

This year, Rufus & Coco celebrated its 13th anniversary and is Australia’s most awarded pet care brand, receiving 14 product awards in Australia and the USA and 10 business awards from organisations like Telstra Small Business Awards, Stevie Awards and Australian Business Awards.

Rufus & Coco are strong supporters of the Australian Pet Welfare Foundation assisting in their mission towards zero euthanasia of pets in shelters. Last year, through the sale of their toy range, over 55k was donated to APWF.

Today, the business is a trusted household brand selling over 4.5k products per day and shipping over 2.8k orders monthly.

Rufus & Coco celebrated their 13th birthday and within this relatively short time Rufus & Coco have elevated their vision from Australasian pet care brand to a global formidable player in the pet industry. Rufus & Coco is represented in the two largest national grocery chains in Australia and in major retailers in the USA including Amazon, Petco, Chewy and Petsmart. As of 2021, Rufus & Coco is ranged in 11 countries and has launched The Fur Salon, a premium pet grooming salon, with plans for further expansion.

Rufus & Coco also consistently uses it’s platform to advocate for pet welfare and animal rights. Due to Anneke and her teams continued passion and support, along with their partners Australian Pet Welfare Foundation (APWF), Rufus & Coco has contributed to the saving of over 30,000 dogs lives in Australia and in FY21 were able to donate over 55k to the APWF foundation.

Rufus & Coco is also conscious of the environmental impact of per ownership and aims to improve this during product development. Despite a challenging 2020 Rufus & Coco produced a new line of natural, environmentally friendly cat litter, Wee Kitty Eco Plant Clumping Litter. They successfully launched it simultaneously into 6 export markets since February 2020. This natural, non-toxic litter which made from tofu is biodegradable, mulch able, compostable and flushable (sceptic-safe) making it the more environmentally friendly solution for cat owners compared to other popular alternatives such as clay litter which is extremely damaging to the environment.

These most recent achievements are especially notable given that the business climate in the last financial year was also greatly impacted by COVID19. This resulted in significant changes to the business markets globally. Despite this, Rufus & Coco was able to not only retain all its staff but hire new staff, pivot business strategy and direction in a timely fashion, redirecting focus to products that were still receiving traction whilst continuing to increase support and donations to their partners.

Though the release of Rufus & Coco’s Wee Kitty Eco Plant Clumping Litter is recent, it has already had great success with worldwide distribution and strong retailer support. The product is now ranged in over 930 stores and 5 online retailers. Retailers include global pet chains such as PetSmart, Mud Bay, chewy.com, Amazon.com, Pet Circle, Pet Stock, My Pet Warehouse and Pet O.

To date, 308 tonnes of Wee Kitty Eco Plant litter has been sold and it’s outperforming all sales expectations. In Australia, growth in 2021 exceed targets by 243% and internationally, growth is also up by 28.34%.

While being a relatively new player in the market, The Fur Salon has also received industry recognition, outperformed targets and experienced a 115% increase in sales and bookings this year compared to last year. There are further plans to open more salons by the end of 2021.

Reference any attachments of supporting materials

Rufus & Coco’s latest brand video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uJqTZGv4Xw

The Fur Salon featured on Today Extra - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tz6MIHRQ5eA

The Fur Salon featured in Mosman Daily - https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ZWLUF5jNUcY03JwLq_MnQ3d4vFnQDj4N?usp=sharing

Wee Kitty Eco-Plant Clumping Litter - https://youtu.be/TEg23p-QFF4

Wee Kitty Eco-Plant Clumping Litter- How to use - https://youtu.be/QDNbuj5StmY

Reduce your pawprint challenge campaign - https://rufusandcoco.com.au/pages/reduce-your-paw-print-challenge

Wee Kitty Eco Plant Clumping Littler Reviews - https://rufusandcoco.com.au/collections/litter-accessories/products/wee-kitty-eco-plant-clumping-tofu-litter

Wee Kitty Eco PlantReduce your pawprint challenge - user engagement and feedback- https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/18075344650234656/