Riverside Greetings, the UK’s number one supplier of greetings cards to the convenience and forecourt sector, has rebranded in order to accelerate the sales potential of greeting cards to independent retail businesses.
The Wakefield-based company has invested in exciting new branding; a scripted font on a raspberry pink background, which now appears on a new fleet of vans. The new branding also appears on new work wear, new marketing collateral and POS and on digital communications including the website and social media.
Explaining the rebrand Andrew Glen, Managing Director, said: “It seemed sensible that we made changes in line with convenience and forecourts sector. In the fast-paced environment that we operate in, it is important to keep ahead of the game – innovation is key to this. The rebranding means our retail customers are left in no doubt about who we are and our long-term commitment to growing our presence in the sector.”
In an innovative move, Glen said that the brand relaunch is “the start of a new phase in the growth of our business and the businesses of the retailers we work with. It represents a significant investment on our part and is a demonstration of our confidence in the sector and our own ability to add value for our customers and their shoppers. The relaunch enables us to market the value we add in a more effective way and allows us to differentiate ourselves from traditional offerings.
“Over the last year we have delivered a number of ground-breaking initiatives which have made us leaner, quicker, more flexible, better informed and able to add significant value for convenience retailers. We have added great quality, new modern ranges and designs with new products and POS launching every month. As a result we are driving significant like-for-like growth for existing customers,” he added.
Riverside Greetings is a convenience specialist and offers retail businesses high margin at +50% POR. The range is shopper focused and designed for convenience supported by sector leading service levels.
A key factor in it being a leader within the sector has been Riverside Greetings investment in understanding what retailers want. “We monitor a group of stores on a weekly or fortnightly basis, which means we have a direct connection to the market. We test new merchandising concepts, POS and new designs with them and this enables us to go from an approved design to being on the shelf, on test, in less than a week.”
The category management knowledge Riverside Greetings has developed means that it monitors sales and adjust the base planogram to meet the shopper profile and mission of that individual site.
“We install a base planogram of stock on consignment so there are no upfront costs and no risk to the retailer and we can even supply display equipment on loan free of charge.”
Glen concluded: “The response from our customers has been overwhelmingly positive. The greeting card category has evolved so much over the last few years. Our focus is on creating even greater awareness for the Riverside Greetings brand, to help take it to the next level, and develop the company even further.”