A special partnership
Sir: Long before the mass market woke up to personalisation, Thorntons’ retail presence allowed you to make your own selections of top-dollar chocolates and sign your eggs (‘Thorntons shares soar on Ferrero takeover offer’, thegrocer.co.cuk, 22 June). They were masters of the edible gift. Ferrero was a smart innovator, bringing us classics from nuts you spread on toast to Tic Tac and Kinder eggs.
But for the last five years, both brands have lost their love for life and chocolate. Could their marriage re-spark the fire? Ferrero can teach all about kids, while Thorntons understands the personal touch and provides a shop window. If they define their new purpose and chase it with all they’ve got, acting like entrepreneurs again, it could be special.
Nina Aggarwal, founding partner of Fusion Learning
PYOO is a turn-off…
Sir: While Waitrose’s Pick Your Own Offers will certainly grab consumers’ attention, the actual mechanic and required commitment will turn folks off after a couple of weeks (‘Price hails Pick Your Own deal revolution’, 20 June, p23). Waitrose customers won’t really care about shopping there because they can get 20% off their toilet paper for the next three months. Many customers already buy staples elsewhere where prices have long been 20%+ lower. Waitrose needs to keep focused on stocking innovative food & drink and further ramping up service levels - this is what sets it apart. Its food & drink offers of late look stale and Tesco is closing the service levels gap. It has to keep innovating.
PYOO is not the solution to getting folks to increase basket size and trip frequency.
Sophia Nadur, via thegrocer.co.uk
…or is it a turn-on?
Sir: This is surely a scheme no one can complain about - the chance to save money on items you would normally buy rather than offers on products you aren’t interested in.
Yes, you initially have to go online to select the 10 products you are interested in for the three-month period, but from then on you can either purchase them online or in store!
The invite actually says ‘Simply go online and select your favourite 10 from hundreds of products to save 20% every time you shop, in-store or online at waitrose.com using your myWaitrose card’. Well done Waitrose.
Kay Staniland, MD, Assosia
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