Home & garden pest control specialist STV is believed to be first to market with newly approved bait formulations for control of mice and rats, its in-house production teams working double shifts since the New Year to ensure independent and national retailers are fully stocked just in time for peak-season.
First deliveries went into store in mid-January, and STV reports record sales across all sectors, with one national DIY retailer recording an 30% EPOS uplift year on year since implementing its new-season range.
Trade estimates are that control of mice and rats in homes and gardens accounts for roughly 40% of total retail spend on pest control, or in the region of £50 million a year.
And within this spend, rodent bait accounts for as much as half of sales totals through some outlets, generating annual volume sales well in excess of 5 million units.
“Importantly, rodent baits are typically bought one pack at a time, and always as a grudge purchase,” says Ed Deane, STV commercial director. It follows that every year, they are responsible for driving as many as 5 million customers into hardware and garden stores across the UK – the default point of purchase for baits as they are now largely absent from grocery retail, he says.
The new regulations affecting this business must be implemented by all retailers on or before March 1st, 2018. And STV has developed bait formats and new retail packs to meet these requirements and ensure they have a positive impact on your pest control fixture that will drive continued retail sales growth.
But the bait regulations are a positive development in other ways, too. “Our new formulations have proven effective against mice and rats at substantially reduced levels of active ingredient. This means that they pose a lower risk to non-target animals such as pet dogs. And there is far less risk of secondary poisoning of predator birds and animals, as well as an overall reduction of the environmental impact that these necessary control products have on the natural world,” says Deane.
From March 1st all treatments using rodent bait, both indoors and out, must be applied in a tamper resistant bait station. Again, this substantially reduces the risk of accidental poisoning of non-target wildlife and pets. And it provides a great opportunity for add-on retail sales.
With its reformulated range, STV says retailers will also be able to offer customers a choice of risk profile: single feed baits that deliver a lethal dose in one feed; and multi-feed baits that pose a reduced risk to pets and wildlife and deliver a lethal dose to mice and rats after several feeds.
Choosing the right product for use in a domestic home or garden is very important - a professional pest controller must make a risk assessment that considers health and safety before every treatment using rodent bait, and home-users have an equally difficult decision to make before they purchase the product and take it home to use.
And this is why The Big Cheese offers a choice, says Deane. “Under one, comprehensive brand you can supply effective, non-chemical controls, welfare-friendly catch-and-release traps, electronic and natural deterrents, and a full range of proven catch-and-kill and bait-and-kill control options.
We call our rodent control The Big Cheese for a reason – it’s the best there is bar none, and it is and a brand to trust. So do make sure that your pest control fixture is ready for March 1st 2018, and that you’re fully stocked with new format baits and bait stations from The Big Cheese,” he says.
www.stvpestcontrol.com
info@stvpestcontrol.com
01953 881580
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