Hotel Chocolat has undertaken a multichannel makeover in the last 12 months, as the chocolate specialist made the move to wrap up its burgeoning business channels onto one online platform. The last few years have seen the company extend its brand by opening its own restaurants and Cocoa Bar Cafes, and the group needed to rebuild its online offering to cater for this. But as the busy Easter period arrives on the calendar once again there is no sign that the business is resting on its laurels, with various new technological developments in the pipeline.

Matthew Keys, digital marketing manager at the retailer, told Essential Retail that a lot of the organisation’s current focus is on what it can offer in terms of loyalty schemes, mobile payments and e-receipts, all of which can help Hotel Chocolat better understand its customers’ behaviour whether they are accessing its shops online or in-store. While those areas of retail excite Keys, and could manifest themselves at Hotel Chocolat in the near future, there is still work required to fine tune these particular strategies. In terms of the here and now, two of the company’s main priorities remain improving the link between its stores and online channels, as well as looking outside of the UK for new opportunities. One method for combining its store portfolio with the digital world is through the use of brand characterisation. Much like department store chain John Lewis, which achieved significant success through the creation of its bear and hare adverts last Christmas, Hotel Chocolat uses ‘Beau Bunny’ as part of its marketing artillery for the crucial Easter period. “We ramp up our activity and have a very tight strategy around how we are going to deliver Easter,” said Keys. “With Easter and Christmas, we support sales with an omnichannel campaign that features our Beau Bunny. He’s a character that is visiting approximately 30 sites around the UK and we have created a micro-website to support that.”

Consumers can access the online portal and guess where the character is each day by entering their email address into the data entry system. This activity helps the company build its database, while participants also receive offers as a result of entering their details. “It’s a great way of tying in the stores with the digital element,” the marketing manager explained. “We get a lot of people click and collecting, so they can time their collection for when Beau Bunny is visiting – it drives in-store engagement.” Far from copying the John Lewis bear and hare Christmas idea, the bunny character was the brainchild of Hotel Chocolat creative director Timothy Rennie. Beau Bunny first emerged early in 2013, as part of a social media campaign to promote the brand. Keys noted: “We rolled out a campaign that was well-received, and social media went a bit mad for him – so we’re bringing him back again this year.”

Source:  www.essentialretail.com