Thorntons secures deal with Coca Cola

12th June 2009, 12:36pm

Thorntons is introducing an extensive range of Coca Cola products to 100 of its high street stores this month after signing a two year deal with the drinks brand.

The confectionary superbrand will be replacing its existing drinks range with 13 new products including Coke Zero, Fanta, Dr Pepper, Oasis and Powerade Berry.

The new Coca Cola range will be on sale in up to 70 Thorntons stores with the new range also being rolled out to an additional 30 – 40 stores across the retail estate before the end of the month.

40 Thorntons cafés will also stock some of the range from July, taking the total of Thorntons outlets stocking Coca Cola drinks to 140 spread across the UK.

Geoff Kershaw, head of retail trading & marketing commented: "Coca Cola is such a strong brand that everyone knows and trusts, so when we decided we wanted to invest in our drinks offering to drive increased sales, they were our first choice."

As part of the deal, Coca Cola will be supplying and maintaining the chillers for all 100 retail stores and the popular drinks brand is also investing heavily in marketing activity around the launch and on a promotional plan going forward.
 
Kershaw continued: "Coca Cola came to us with a competitive price and presented us with the best proposal in terms of marketing and promotional support for both the launch and ongoing. We will also be working together to monitor performance and if the initial roll out is a success we may look at extending the range and the number of stores carrying it in the future."

Thorntons will continue to stock Fruit Shoots from its existing supplier Britvic, as they are very popular with children and are still performing well. Thorntons will also be adding Red Bull to its drinks collection and Irn Bru is available in some Thorntons stores in Scotland, Ireland and Northern England.
 
The new contract with Coca Cola is the latest development for Thorntons in revamping its drinks offering. Last November, Thorntons introduced its Hot Chocolate Bar concept and launched a new hot chocolate drink alongside it, which has proved really popular with customers.

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