LOUISVILLE. Ky. -- Thorntons Inc. has entered into an agreement with GSP, a leading provider of retail services, for GSP to provide point-of-purchase (POP) solutions and management services for all of its stores.
"We selected GSP because of their years of expertise in delivering the highest-quality, lowest-cost POP marketing and software management solutions that deliver store level results," said John Zikias, vice president of marketing. "As a leader in innovative POP concepts, we will look to them for new ideas that can be implemented in not only the stores we are building but in the existing ones that will be remodeled in the coming year."
He added, "Providing the lowest-cost POP program means providing retailers like Thorntons' peace of mind with our Auditable Pricing Grid as well as new, creative and unique retail solutions to improve POP and marketing effectiveness. We are very happy to have the chance to work with the team at Thorntons."
GSP's POP services and solutions include POP engineering, print, fabrication and fulfillment services with 99.8% accuracy rate (based on one million pieces per month), local account support, logistics and budget management and store-specific POP placement guides. GSP's software management program POPManager turns each POP program into a site-specific marketing campaign, ensuring that retailers only pay for the elements used in the stores.
Both Thorntons and GSP are focused on minimizing the overall environmental impact of the various POP elements, while continuing to improve the level of service to Thorntons' customers.
Thorntons is a leading U.S. independent gasoline and convenience chain retailers. With more than $1.4 billion in revenue, it is one of largest privately held corporations in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Based in Louisville, it operates 162 gasoline and convenience stores, car washes and travel plazas in five states: Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Tennessee. Thorntons distributes its petroleum products through its wholly owned Thornton Transportation Co. and operates a river bulk storage terminal in Louisville.
Separately, GSP said in late December that it thanked its customers during the 2011 holiday season by making charitable donations to specific charities on behalf of each customer. The company has made a donation to the nonprofit organization Give Kids the World and to 25 of their customers' preferred charities.
"Our charitable gifts received such a positive response last year that we decided to make donating to charity a holiday tradition. Our customers work directly with their communities and understand each community's specific need, so it works well to have each customer select the charity for our holiday donation on their behalf," said Geoff Neuhoff, CEO. "GSP is pleased to honor and thank our retailing partners by making these charitable gift donations in their name."
Give Kids the World is a nonprofit organization that fulfills the wishes of children with life-threatening illnesses and their families.
Clearwater, Fla.-based GSP helps consumer-facing businesses transform their growth strategies into store-level results. Its site intelligence software optimizes planning and enables store-specific retail execution. Its survey services ensure that retailers know the details of every store to improve capital expenditure decisions, store understanding and store support. Its design team provides graphic and industrial design solutions. And its POP management team leverages expertise in design, production, fulfillment and data management to maximize return on in-store marketing efforts.
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