PetsPyjamas.com Drafts In Gracia Amico As Chief Executive

Former Hobbs fashion chain digital director Gracia Amico has been appointed to lead rapidly growing pets website PetsPyjamas.com.

Gracia Amico left Hobbs, where she was a board director, in February after a year in the business. She began in her new role as chief executive at PetsPyjamas.com last week.

Amico told the Mail on Sunday she has previously spoken with one of the sites co-founders Karen Hanton about taking a role and recently decided the 'time was right' to join the business.

Hanton previously set up restaurant booking site TopTable which was sold in 2010 to US rival Open Table for £35 million. She is understood to have received a £16 million windfall from the sale.

Amico told the newspaper: 'This market is growing fast. There’s a humanisation of pets at the moment, which means they are increasingly treated as just another member of the family.'

She said she was attracted by the 'holistic' approach of the business. About half its revenue this year is expected to come from services such as dog walking, pet-friendly holidays and pet-sitting.

The site is the latest in a string of online ventures in the £4 billion market. AstarPets was launched last month, backed by Quentin Griffiths, co-founder of online fashion retailer Asos. And last year Ocado began its first non-food website, Fetch.co.uk, targeting pet owners.

Amico formerly also worked at Burberry and Topman as well as setting up a jewellery site in the first part of last decade. PetsPyjamas.com employs about 20 people and sells about 8,000 products.

She said she expects to brush up the technical blueprint of the site before taking the offer overseas. Target markets for dedicated sites will include the US, Germany, Hong Kong and China, she said.