Norman, who had left school at 14, became manager of the shops and Stanley, who had studied food science at Sheffield University, took care of manufacturing. The brothers had contrasting personalities and were forever bickering, but their partnership worked because they had defined roles and contributed different skills to the firm, which became a limited company in By the end of the Second World War, they had established a chain of almost 40 shops and were about to open a factory in Belper to supplement their chocolate factory in Sheffield.
With Norman and Stanley clinging on to controlling roles well into old age, this meant that there were half a dozen people sharing power — two had been company; six became a crowd. Like his brothers and his cousin, Peter had always assumed that he would enter the family firm and this was confirmed when his father sent him on a confectionery course. He also introduced a new regime of systems management and formed close and supportive relationships with all his employees.
In the space of little more than a year, he had increased production five-fold. Now, he had removed me from the job I loved.
To make matters worse, I had become depressed after being rejected by a girlfriend to whom I was devoted. In an attempt to avoid drowning in a sea of self-pity, I joined the Territorial Army and started to spend most weekends with my new comrades. Eventually, Peter entered into a new relationship and got married.
After his spell in charge of quality control, he became production manager at the Belper plant, with Tony taking charge of the shops and Michael assuming financial control. The newly-weds moved to Ashover and Peter threw himself into his new job. Sales dropped 0. Store sales dropped 5. Thorntons also revealed it closed down nine stores as part of its turnaround strategy.
In October, Thorntons sales dropped by Like-for-like sales have fell by 3. It was also forced to temporarily shut its London Oxford Street flagship by Westminster Council after an inspection revealed an rodent infestation.
Thorntons was 75 per cent owned by Ferholding UK, which in turn is controlled by Ferrero executive chairman Giovanni Ferrero who held over 50 per cent of the voting rights. The chocolate retailer said its decision is currently the subject of consultation with employees, and hopes to redeploy some of those affected. Thorntons said the Covid pandemic had affected trading, particularly due to lockdown restrictions. It added that online sales would be a key part of its strategy after it recorded a 71 per cent rise in ecommerce sales in the last year.
In recent years though, Thorntons has arguably discovered to its cost that chocolate in Britain is no longer just about chocolate, but more about experience.
Thorntons on the other hand has been struggling with its profitability since the late s. Last week, Thorntons announced plans to become an online-only retailer and permanently close its entire UK store estate of 61 shops, which will affect workers. The chocolate retailer said the Covid pandemic had affected trading, particularly due to lockdown restrictions.
Yet for many retailers, change is inevitable — and always has been prior to Covid But even though the Thorntons name is synonymous with chocolate, the family story behind it is anything but sweet. However, his career was cut short when, in he was dismissed by his own brothers following years of family disagreements. Besides the family feud, increased competition on the high street from Hotel Chocolat meant Thorntons found itself occupying an uneasy middle ground between premium and mass-market appeal.
We have seen a strong growth in Thorntons. Thorntons has long been conflicted on how to position its brand to consumers. Since its multi-million-pound acquisition deal with Ferrero in , the retailer introduced itself to UK supermarkets as an affordable mid-range option. Catherine Shuttleworth, founder and chief executive of retail agency Savvy, argued that Thorntons failed to invest in its retail business, while Hotel Chocolat stepped into the mid-market for luxury chocolate — which Thorntons once occupied.
The Resilient Retail Club founder Catherine Erdly told Retail Gazette that Thorntons was perceived as less premium over time while Hotel Chocolat managed to maintain its premium positioning. He said customers wanted to shop with retailers that offer unique, healthy options, utilising alternative sugars to produce the same high-quality product. Supermarket own brands are a very good at this; you can see this through their development of high-quality Easter eggs over the years.
It is just a subsidiary company within the giant that is Ferrero. They can load in whatever cost they need each year to get the business where it is going — and there will be other financial considerations at play such as tax arrangements. Once you scratch beneath the surface, he adds, a lot has changed, especially in the way the product is produced and the quality of the chocolate.
The solution under ex-CEO Jonathan Hart when he was appointed in late , had been to pump out higher volumes of boxed chocolates to supermarkets, convenience stores and petrol forecourts. But it was a disaster.
At least Ferrero is starting to export Thorntons overseas again. The Ferrero group had always shunned acquisitions, relying on the ingenuity of founder Pietro and then son Michele, with the invention of global powerhouse brands such as Nutella and Ferrero Rocher. When Michele died in , third generation Giovanni hit the acquisition trail, starting with Thorntons, which he saw as a brand to compete with Cadbury in terms of heritage and consumer awareness. But Thorntons is a confectioner; you need a breadth of range not just chocolate boxes.
It is not just a high-volume fmcg game. Variety is key to specialist retail and destination shopping. But the majority of his experience is in fmcg, including eight years for Ferrero UK working with the major supermarkets. It looked like things were gradually recovering but recent news put them back on the downward trend again so this deal has come at quite a good time.
That will take quite a lot of communication and investment. He tried to revive the business by selling more products to supermarkets and online while shutting unprofitable stores. He quit last month after a difficult period in which Thorntons was forced to issue the pre-Christmas warning.
0コメント