The rebranding of Thomson and First Choice shops will help clear up customer confusion and address concerns about footfall, according to Tui bosses.
The travel giant has begun an £8 million rebranding of its UK shop network to ‘Thomson featuring First Choice’, in a project expected to take two years and cost £8 million.
Tui bosses hope the new dual branding will make sure that customers know they are able to buy Thomson and First Choice product in every shop.
The move will also significantly extend First Choice’s reach. Currently First Choice is particularly well represented in the south of England and Scotland, and one of its core areas in the south west has been chosen as the first to undergo the rebrand.
Kathryn Ward, Tui retail director, said: “This will make shops more successful. By putting both names above the door we will drive more footfall.
“The reason we are doing this is to future-proof many of our shops. Some of our First Choice managers have been saying to me recently we are concerned about the footfall to our shops. People have said to me is there any chance we can have both brands.”
Nick Longman, Tui Travel’s distribution director, said a number of options were considered when formulating its rebrand including dropping First Choice altogether or creating a new brand.
But he said after the First Choice tour operation was repositioned to all-inclusive only ahead of this summer it made sense to use the reach of the Thomson brand on the high street to promote its sister company.
He said research showed the Thomson brand was stronger on the high street and in some areas of the country where new First Choice stores have opened since the merger in 2007, like Newcastle, it has struggled to “gain traction”.
The dual branded option had the advantage of introducing First Choice to 300 locations where it currently is not featured at all, he added.
“When we made the decision to pull apart the brands it raised a number of immediate questions, one was could we continue to run a national retail brand when we have such a strong proposition from a tour operating perspective,” Longman said.
“The turn of year First Choice advert is going to be so great, but one question was how easy is it to find First Choice on the high street.
“When the repositioning of First Choice was announced there was a cynical view that it was the first step to phasing out the brand but there is still such a big opportunity with all inclusive. In some areas where we don’t have all inclusive we can look to introduce it and look at expanding the market.”
The move will mean 133 towns will have two identically branded stores but Tui has no plans to close stores as a direct result of the rebrand.
Longman said Tui has an ongoing ‘business as usual’ programme under which shops are constantly assessed and leases reviewed when they come up.
Tui believes it can operate two shops in most towns successfully as they are often far apart and have a loyal customer base.
There are also no fears of a clash of cultures, the two brands and staff having become increasingly integrated over the last four years since the merger.
“First Choice had a particular culture, it was the pink army at the time of the merger but now we do not make reference to what brand background people are from. I think long-standing First Choice people will be a bit sad but this is the right business decision.”
The new branding will feature on all First Choice and Thomson stores and the 40 Asda in-store branches of First Choice but not on the 40 superstores, which were rebranded last year.
Work to upgrade First Choice stores in the south west is already underway, although the announcement of the rebrand was kept from staff until this week’s retail conference in the Algarve.
Up to 150 First Choice shops will undergo a refit within six months.
Pictures: In-store changes
How the shopfronts will look
The colour scheme
Brand-focused ‘hero’ brochure racking