It has been a long time in the waiting, but tomorrow, Hallmark is to reveal its plans for a totally revamped Gold Crown programme.
The two day event (taking place 26 and 27 September) at Hallmark’s HQ in Bradford will bring together over 80 Gold Crown store owners and prospective Gold Crownies from the UK and Ireland who will hear the plans for the future for the programme.
“We are focusing on the most important things for retailers today as well as for the future; customer service, product, in-store environment, digital and marketing. For us it’s all about ensuring the service in these areas offer a real first class retail concept for both our customers and consumers”, commented Graeme Francis, Gold Crown business manager. “We want this event to become an annual celebration of our Gold Crown owners and we have one clear mission ‘to put the shopper at the heart of everything we do’.” He added.
Reflecting the importance of the event, Don Hall, ceo of Hallmark is flying over from the parent company’s head office in Kansas City to give the welcome address to the retailers attending.
The hopes are that the new approach, various aspects of which have been trialled at retail, will help to build up the Gold Crown network back up to 200 stores over the next couple of years, from its current base of 122 stores.
As Ciaran Leonard, Hallmark’s head of sales for UK and Ireland told PG Buzz a few months ago: “We have not revamped the Gold Crown programme since 2012 and a lot has changed in the world and in the industry over that time, resulting in new challenges for independent retailers,” Ciaran told PG Buzz. “You cannot ignore the decline in footfall, growth of Card Factory and supermarkets, as well as how consumer shopping patterns generally have changed. We have spoken to a great number of retailers and consumers as well as drawn on the immense insights from our Kansas City parent company to create the new Gold Crown approach,” Ciaran added.
As Ciaran reinforced: “We are fiercely protective of the independent retailer. The Gold Crown programme gives them the opportunity to maintain their independence but with the support and drawing on the insights that we at Hallmark can offer. The revamp of Gold Crown is long overdue, but we are excited about what it can offer our customers,” he said.
Top: Don Hall, ceo of Hallmark (right) is flying in to speak at the two day Gold Crown symposium alongside Steve Wright, md of Hallmark UK (left).
