
Northbanks helped Royal Canin turn a complex pet-nutrition category into a clear, recognisable and educational retail destination across approximately 250 Pets at Home stores in the UK.
Royal Canin’s specialist range sat within a busy multi-brand aisle, surrounded by competing packs, nutritional messages and category signage. The depth of the range was a strength, but customers needed a much clearer way to understand it and find the product relevant to their pet.
The brief was therefore bigger than adding branded POS. Royal Canin needed a permanent retail system that could simplify the decision journey, strengthen brand presence and work consistently across a large and varied national estate.

We treated the project as a navigation and education challenge. Rather than adding more promotional noise, the system needed a clear hierarchy – helping customers move from brand recognition, to breed or need, to the right product.
Royal Canin’s distinctive gold became the visual anchor, creating a recognisable destination within the aisle. Breed imagery, icons, concise copy and colour coding then provided layers of information without overwhelming the customer.
Breed Universe combines strong header branding, structured graphic panels, shelf-edge communication and breed-led navigation into one permanent modular system.
The format was designed to adapt to different store sizes and layouts while retaining the same customer journey and visual language. Modular components also allow individual messages and range information to be refreshed without replacing the complete installation.
Northbanks translated the concept into a repeatable retail system capable of consistent production and deployment across approximately 250 Pets at Home stores. Components were developed around existing shelving and fixtures, with durability, installation logic and long-term serviceability considered from the outset.

Breed Universe transformed Royal Canin’s in-store presence from a collection of products within a busy category into a coherent branded destination. The strong gold architecture improves recognition from distance, while the breed-led hierarchy makes the range easier to understand and navigate at the point of purchase.
The permanent modular approach also reduces reliance on short-life POS replacement and provides a framework that can evolve as the range changes.
WHY IT MATTERS
For complex categories, the answer is not always more signage. Clear hierarchy, intuitive navigation and a repeatable physical system can make specialist expertise easier to understand while strengthening brand presence at national scale.
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