In November 2020, GlobalData revealed that Nestlé SA was shifting its business strategy towards its Purina PetCare segment (Purina PetCare drives new job postings at Nestle) and Nestlé’s annual report published in February 2021 reported that its Purina PetCare product category was indeed the largest contributor to growth, lending credibility to GlobalData’s study. In fact, Mark Schneider, CEO of Nestlé, noted that premium brands such as Purina Pro Plan, Purina ONE and Felix were primary growth drivers. Additionally, GlobalData’s Filing Analytics reveals that, during the analyst call, the company mentioned that Purina PetCare was supported by organic growth, combined with strong self-development in e-commerce and science-based premium brands.

GlobalData’s Job Analytics finds that Nestlé continues to focus aggressively toward the pet care segment. Job postings for Purina PetCare increased by 251% between Q1 2020 and Q2 2021, with over 1,600 jobs listed between January 2020 to June 2021. Notably, the company posted around 400 jobs in Q2 2021, which is the highest since Q1 2020.

Ajay Thalluri, Business Fundamentals Analyst at GlobalData, says: “Hiring for Purina is on an upward trajectory. For PetCare, Nestlé announced investments amounting to $1.5bn in new production capacity, including two new plants in Ohio and North Carolina. The company also categorized PetCare as having ‘high-growth’ as it recorded double-digit growth, according to the company’s Q4 2020 earnings call.”

The company is hiring at its existing factories, with a focus on warehouse and supply management. With Purina’s expansion, the company is also hiring to meet talent requirements at its new facilities. Nestlé is readying to hire 300 members for its new factory in Hartwell, Georgia. A new facility is set to open in North Carolina in 2022 where it started hiring and looks to generate 300 jobs.

The company is also hiring for contingent requirements at its factories in St. Louis and St. Joseph in Missouri, US. The positions range from a four-month to 18-month contracts, mostly for technical and operational staff. The ‘Supply & Demand Planning Specialist – Contingent’ role is to coordinate between Purina’s wet factory and its new co-packing facility for supply in the US and Canada, while the role for ‘HR Coordinator, Talent Acquisition – Contingent’ seeks to schedule interviews and look at new hires.

Thalluri adds: “Purina PetCare continues to witness a surge in demand dominated by the at-home consumption pattern in 2020. With the trend continuing in 2021 as well, the company is strengthening its expansion plans in new regions such as Europe, Middle East and North Africa (EMENA). The company is accelerating its expansion through e-commerce channels and expects to realize financial growth of a potential Swiss Franc 1bn by 2023.”

Nestlé listed the role of ‘Purina EMENA Ecommerce Director’ to develop Purina’s e-commerce business and enable online market share gain and manage international pure play customers. The company is also building a pan-European team in Barcelona to curate product category pages on e-commerce sites such as Amazon.

Additionally, GlobalData’s Patent Analytics shows that the company received 25 grants in 2021 in the pet care segment. Notable among them are grants for non-meat food products having the appearance and texture of cooked meat, nutritional compositions for heart protection in companion animals, and methods using morphometric measurements of a small dog to improve food for breeds of this stature.

Thalluri concludes: “Nestlé’s Purina PetCare hiring activity could remain strong to meet talent requirements at new production facilities and the ongoing expansion in new regions. Innovation in products such as Purina Pro Plan LiveClear and Purina Prime Bones is also likely to generate more hires for this segment.”