Thorntons have been making and retailing confectionery since 1911 and, with over 300 stores, is the major vertically integrated confectionery brand in the UK.

The Brief:
To develop and implement a new customer proposition to:

• Expand the customer base
• Increase frequency of customer visits
• Increase the average spend per customer visit

The Approach:
InspireRD facilitated the internal team to jointly and concurrently
develop the people, product and places by establishing a safe
environment where innovation could flourish, be implemented and
enabled to live and thrive within the company.

• Vision: Heritage and innovation combined.
• People: Product and customer training. “Managing not minding the store” - information to assist in driving sales. New uniform to enhance colleague morale.
• Product: Launched 19 new products.
  Hot drinks proposition.
  “Self-serve” operation for Continental and
  Premier chocolates.
• Place: New brand mark “written in chocolate”.
  Contemporary style, easy to refresh.
  Focused colleague and customer attention on the
  unique benefits of the products.

The Results/Performance:
Project timescale:

• first meeting to first store opening in 15 weeks.
• 23 weeks to complete 8 trial stores.

Capital investment:

• Reduced capital investment from previous scheme by 45%.
• Reduced store disruption time by 70%.
• Total project delivered under original budget.

Financial performance:

• Stores in growth.
• New products being rolled to all stores.
• Customers numbers growing.
• Average spend growing.