The Italian Larder

The Italian Larder is an Italian food and wine importer based in Oxfordshire in the UK, with a successful history of servicing restaurants, bars and shops. However, their goal was to expand into retail and open their own delicatessen and café. Despite their extensive industry experience, they found it challenging to break into a new market with an entirely new business model and marketing strategy. After a year of struggling, they called in NorthRock Media to consult on their marketing approach.

NorthRock Media's team started by conducting a thorough analysis of the market The Italian Larder was trying to enter, identifying their target customer and creating buyer personas. We then worked with the client to make their brand more retail friendly and launched a social media campaign to build a following in the local area around the shop site. We ran targeted ads on social media platforms to build awareness with our target market and launched competitions to build engagement and bring people into the store. We also designed a series of in-store events, such as cookery and Italian classes, to keep people coming back and created an email campaign to keep our customer base informed.

The data-driven approach that NorthRock Media took in working closely with The Italian Larder paid off. The retail side of the business grew to overtake the distribution side, delivering greater profit margins. Eventually, The Italian Larder was able to make the decision to separate the retail arm as a standalone business and divest it as part of their exit strategy. Thanks to the successful implementation of a new marketing strategy, The Italian Larder was able to achieve their goal of expanding into retail and launching their own delicatessen and café.