Sweet indulgence

Thorntons holds an enviable position as one of the leading brands throughout the UK, providing a premium product with the very highest standards of service and quality. Here, CEO Mike Davies lifts the lid on ‘the art of the chocolatier’
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One of the strongest premium brand names in the UK
today, Thorntons was established by Joseph William Thornton in 1911, and is today a £180M turnover company with 378 shops and cafes and over 252 franchises, together with Internet, mail order and commercial services. The company trades across the whole of the UK and Ireland, predominantly in the North and Midlands.

From humble beginnings and its very first shop in Sheffield, it has always been Thorntons aims to create the finest chocolate and confectionary. One of the things that the brand is famous for is its variety of delicious chocolates. Even to this day, its Master Chocolatier is totally devoted to discovering new recipes and flavours to delight anyone with a love of chocolate, toffees, fudges and sweets.

Thorntons stores are merchandised with the customer in mind, focusing on their needs and their reason for purchase, and can be found in all the major towns and cities whether in shopping malls, high streets, railway stations, airports or factory outlet centres. Whether they are large 20-bay stores or smaller eight-bay stores each provides the customer with a delightful experience.

Recent openings include Aberystwyth and Fort Kinnaird in Edinburgh; no further store openings are planned until the autumn, though the company has a medium-term store development target of 400 own stores.

RLI asked CEO Mike Davies what he believed to be the ideal location for a Thorntons store?
“There is no ‘ideal’ location for us,” he says. “Thorntons can develop a good business in a variety of locations, be it in the high street or large shopping malls.”
And is there any particular brand that he prefers to be situated alongside?

“We don’t have any preference in who we are sited alongside as such,” he says. “Of course, some retailers do help attract additional footfall, which is beneficial to us.”
Has the company considered a move into the international marketplace?
“Our priority is to focus on the UK and return the business to a stronger footing,” Davies continues. “Once that has been achieved we may consider other markets.”

There has been much publicity concerning those retailers that have posted lower-than-expected results for the festive period, how was Christmas for Thorntons, and can
we expect to see a lack of consumer confidence emerging over the next year?

“Overall, the company grew by 7.6 per cent in the last quarter of 2007 and like-for-like in our own stores was up 1.2 per cent,” he says. “As for a drop in consumer confidence, it is already happening; mortgage costs are rising and disposable income is coming under pressure.

“The continued success of our multi channel approach — own stores, franchises, commercial and direct — will be critical to the future of Thorntons and we will continue to grow across all four sales channels,” Davies continues.

For the full article please see the RLI May 08 issue