Pricewatch Power-branded site

Pricewatch has appointed Riverside Greetings as the sole greeting card category provider to its chain of forecourts in East Sussex, with a range of greeting cards being installed into nine of its Power Petroleum branded sites.

The arrangement sees a complete range of greeting cards, gift wrap and gift bags from Riverside available for sale in participating Pricewatch forecourt and convenience stores.

Installation into sites begun in June with the rollout completed in early July.

Riverside Greetings is an independent publisher of greeting cards, based in Wakefield, and supplies full-service category solutions to the convenience and forecourt sectors.

A UK wide business, the company supplies a range of their own Riverside brand designs as well as designs from other leading publishers.

Announcing the agreement, Riverside Greetings managing director Andrew Glen said: “We are delighted to have been selected by Pricewatch through a competitive test and trial process to roll out Riverside Greeting cards across nine Power Petroleum branded forecourts.

“Being appointed as Pricewatch’s category partner is a reflection of the positive difference that Riverside makes when we work with a progressive retailer. We are looking forward to growing the greeting card category for Pricewatch and delighting their shoppers.”

Riverside Greetings cards have been trialled in three sites for over six months and Pricewatch’s decision to move Riverside Greetings into all sites was based on the sales and profit performance in the three trial sites.

Glen added: “In general forecourts have smaller displays than convenience stores. When we work with our clients we range with a greater emphasis on general birthday and blanks rather than a broad range of occasions.

“We will be employing our vendor-managed active category management approach utilising our field team to service, replenish, merchandise and category manage each store on a regular basis.”

Mark Caldwell, retail area manager from Pricewatch, said: “We have appointed Riverside Greetings as our category partner because they deliver significantly improved category sales and profitability and are aligned with our ambition to grow the category and delight our shoppers.”