HANCOCKS CASH & CARRY LIMITED

25 JUBILEE DRIVE, LOUGHBOROUGH, LEICESTER LE11 5TX

TEL: (01509) 216 644 FAX: (01509) 237104

06/03/2014

Meet 'Celebrate' at Scunthorpe

One retailer in Scunthorpe is driving his confectionery, fancy dress and party-shop business forward with a proactive approach, enticing his customers with creative and clever ideas.

Having gained local fame for poltergeist activity caught on CCTV, Matthew Stephenson, owner atCelebrate Scunthorpehas certainly taken a novel approach to attracting customers through social media and in-store experiences. His most recent challenge, the Wonka Nerds Dominoes, is now available to view on You Tube.  Many of Matthew's activities have not only gained the attention of his customers but have landed the store features with BBC1 and regional newspapers.  Owner Matthew is clearly doing something right.

The retail business originally started out life as an online store and entrepreneur Matthew Stephenson's ambitions were to build the online business to the extent that it would self-fund his high street store. He achieved this challenge after five years.  Whilst the online store is currently being revamped, Matthew is using social media and specifically You Tube to keep his followers entertained and updated about events and special offers happening in the store.

With many town and city centre retailers having to work hard to differentiate their business and tempt people to the high street, Matthew does a great deal to integrate his marketing online cost effectively, helping to attract visitors to his retail shop.  Shoppers can expect to see children's entertainers in-store on a Saturday afternoon performing juggling and magic tricks, miming and balloon artistry.  Families love it.  It's easy to see why ‘Celebrate' last year received a Rita's Award nomination and came runners up as the UK's best greeting card store.

Having traded withHancocks Confectioneryfor seven years, Matthew is a weekly visitor to the Hull Cash and Carry where he stocks up on a wide variety of old favourites and innovative new sweets and chocolates to keep up with customer demand. Wonka Nerds and Bubblegum Cola Bottles are two of Celebrate's best-selling products, selling in their hundreds every week. Matthew is catering to all ages of customer, with younger shoppers enjoying everything from Lucky Charms, Pop Tarts, Wonka bars and Hershey's and his older clientele preferring more traditional sweets and chocolates such as boiled sweets, toffees, liquorice and bon bons.

Matthew also takes advantage of the seasonal calendar to promote events like Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and Easter by creating his own delicious sweet and chocolate filled hampers and by filling Hancocks' Victorian sweets jars, which he retails for £26 and £16 respectively.  Such is the popularity of his candy jar and hamper creations; the store now offers a delivery service within a ten mile radius.

Having had the pleasure of chatting with Matthew, it's clear to see and hear how passionate he and his friendly team are about giving fantastic customer service, a huge offering of great products and a fun and interactive in-store experience. Check out Scunthorpe's Celebrate onYou Tube.

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Editor's Notes

Hancocksis aspecialist in wholesale sweets, with over 1,500 own label and branded confectionery products availableto buy online atwww.hancocks.co.ukand more than 5,000 products in 20 depots located across the UK. Key customers include all manner of independent retailer and businesses requiring a wholesale supply of confectionery.

Hancocks Cash and Carry Ltd.

Tel: 01509 230796

Email: info@hancocks.co.uk

Website: http://www.hancocks.co.uk