Thorntons plans to revamp its proposition in the chocolate company’s remaining own stores after announcing the closure of up to 180 outlets.
The UK firm’s chief executive Jonathan Hart said today (28 June) that recent changes in consumer shopping habits and low investment in its own stores meant it now had to restructure its locations and its proposition.
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Hart’s comments came as Thorntons said it would close a minimum of 120 outlets over the next three years, while also exploring opportunities to close a further 60 stores. The company wants to create a “profitable and sustainable” own-store network of around 180 outlets.
The company plans to improve the proposition of the own stores that remain by creating a “physical environment that creates a significantly less commoditised proposition,” said Hart.
“We want to display more products loose, out of box, [have] less packaging visible and more space for the quality to be displayed and the products shown”.
Thorntons, which has seen sales from its own stores suffer in recent months, wants to develop a “differentiated, less seasonal business”, Hart said. The company wants to encourage consumers to go to Thorntons for other gifting occasions, like “birthdays, congratulations, love yous, or just because,” he explained.
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By GlobalDataIf each customer were to make even one extra visit each year, it would “transform the business”, Hart insisted.
The Thorntons boss plans to extend the retailer’s core gifting category by “introducing good-value little gifts”. “We don’t provide including a sufficient choice of gifting under GBP5 (US$7.9) in our stores,” he said. The confectionery retailer also plans to “build upon our heritage of personalisation”, Hart said, and allow customers to personalise more of their gifts.
Thorntons said the “majority” of the closed stores would move to its franchise network, which will also see the changes the retailer plans for its own stores. A number of franchised stores already offer a card and gift and Hart said he expects that to continue to be the case as it looks to improve its footprint following the store closures.
“A very great number of our franchisees offer Thorntons alongside a card and gifting proposition, for example, and therefore I see the revitalised proposition that I’ve just outlined as being particularly attractive to that particular audience of that franchise base,” emphasised Hart.
