Godiva to sell online in the UK
The Turkish owner of Godiva, Yildiz Holding, has teamed with eCommera to grow its online presence across Europe.
Sarah Hawkes, Senior Strategic Merchandise Manager at Godiva, said at the Retail Week eCommerce summit that the company had developed individual sales plans for each international market to adapt product ranges to local tastes in view of the competition.
She said the localized strategy was key to the firm’s websites, where language and payment methods must be adapted to suit each country’s needs.
A recent report by Kantar Media found that the majority of UK consumers who admit to regularly buying confectionery in-store do not purchase confectionery online.
It found that while 91% of adults claim to purchase confectionery, just 12% of the 7 million online grocery shoppers in the UK visit confectionery related pages, and only half of those go on to buy confectionery online.
UK premium chocolate maker Thorntons saw sales in its online business Thorntons Direct drop 10% in fiscal 2013 to £9m ($14m) - however much of decline was attributed to delays in developing a new website.
