Founder and Managing Director of Ella’s Kitchen, Paul Lindley, says: “We are absolutely bowled over that Ella’s Kitchen has been recognised and named as this year’s best Food & Drink Brand. The Ella’s Kitchen brand is all about putting kids at the heart of everything we do so to win this accolade, and have our successes recognised by the industry so early on in our journey, is an incredible achievement and something of which we are all extremely proud.”

Ella’s Kitchen was set up to help kids enjoy eating healthy food, whilst making it fun and helping reassure mums and dads that their little ones are getting all the goodness they need in the most convenient way.

Since the company launched in 2006, it has grown from one range to eleven. During 2010, Ella’s Kitchen has expanded the product range significantly, and has launched seven new ranges, including:

• meal solutions for toddlers, including the italian one and indian one cooking sauces and pasta + rice that come in handy boil-in-the-bag sachets, the right portion for toddlers tea-time
• snacks range, including baby cookies, bakey-bakies (wholegrain oat crackers), stacks of sticks (breadsticks)
• Ella’s Kitchen has also extended its existing range

-Ends-

For further information, interviews or imagery on Ella’s Kitchen, please contact:

Jess Newton / 020 8392 6927 – Paul Hutchings / 020 8392 8056

or email ellaskitchen@rdcomms.com

For further infromation on the Consumer Forum, please contact Thea O’Hear at Luther Pendragon on 0207 618 9100 or theaohear@luther.co.uk

Vertex is a leading global Business Process Outsourcer (BPO) and Customer Management Outsourcing business (CMO) with clients in the private and public sectors.

Founded in 1996 it has grown to become one of the largest UK BPO companies (source: Ovum); the number one UK CMO provider (Source: Nelson Hall) and the market leader in Customer Management Services for Utilities in North America. 

It provides a range of transformational service solutions to deliver winning outcomes for clients in the areas of:

• BPO & CMO
• IT Applications, Services and Products
• Consulting and Transformation
• Debt Management and Special Servicing
• Decision Sciences

Vertex employs 9,000 people spanning 4 continents and 70 locations, delivering solutions to a wide range of clients 24/7 and supporting 45 million customers internationally.

Annually it processes 28m payment transactions valued at £1.7 billion and handles 20m inbound calls. It prints and despatches 45 million documents and processes 2.7m items of incoming mail each year.

Vertex employs circa 9,000 people across four continents and 70 locations, delivering solutions to a wide range of clients and over 45 million customers internationally.

The Consumer Forum consists of leading brands brought together by LOVEFiLM chief executive Simon Calver. Launched in October 2009, the Forum is working in partnership with consumers and businesses alike in order to champion the importance of positive consumer experiences, both to individual businesses and the UK economy as a whole.  

Consumer Forum members share their own knowledge of great customer service and seek out innovations to spread to the wider business community, with the aim of improving customer experiences throughout the UK. Vertex’s alliance with the Forum; joining their collaborative and thought leading model is wholeheartedly welcomed by all Forum members, presenting an opportunity to widen the scope of their resource pool and sphere of influence.

Commenting on the news that Vertex has joined the Forum, Philip Michell – Consulting Director, Vertex Data Science Ltd said: “Like all members of the Forum, Vertex is committed to the pursuit of excellence in customer service.  I look forward to working with members to share our insights – developed and refined through the delivery of services for clients such as The National Trust, Home Delivery Network and bmibaby and to collaborating with them to advance best practice in the industry.”

Founder member of Consumer Forum and LOVEFiLM CEO, Simon Claver, added: “We are delighted to welcome Vertex into the Consumer Forum fold. Vertex’s unparalleled experience of helping businesses optimize their operations and performance will significantly help our membership and the support we can give to help businesses develop in a way that benefits consumers at large.

The Forum has always been about sharing insights and communicating these with both business and consumer alike. That businesses are coming together to learn from each other represents a really progressive trend that I’m proud to be a part of. This kind of collaboration and innovation will only become more important given the challenges facing our economy over the coming year and beyond.”

-          ENDS       -

Notes to Editors

Consumer Forum

• The Consumer Forum is a unique organisation, being the only membership organisation to represent innovative companies that strive for and embody excellence in the levels of customer service that they provide.
• The Consumer Forum aims to promote value of consumer-centric businesses via a concerted campaign aimed at customers, the Government, the media and other key influencers.
• Interviews with founder members are available on request.
• Search Consumer Forum on Facebook for follow us on twitter @consumerforum
• www.consumerforum.org.uk – website created by Reading Room
• For more information on the Forum please contact Jessie Winston (jessiewinston@luther.co.uk) or Thea O’Hear (theoahear@luther.co.uk) or on 0207 618 9100

The Founder members of the Consumer Forum are:

• LOVEFiLM – The UK’s largest online DVD & games rental service and entertainment website
• Ella’s Kitchen – Healthy and tasty organic foods for children, toddlers and babies
• PhotoBox – UK and Ireland’s number one destination for photo sharing, storing and printing
• A Suit That Fits.com – Suits that are individually hand tailored for you
• Chemist Direct – Online Pharmacist offering everything discounted online
• King of Shaves – Leading UK manufacturer of men’s & women’s shaving & skincare products
• Reading Room – Leading digital communication company

• Sharpham Park – Leading British producer of organic Spelt cereal from farm to fork 

About Vertex

• Vertex is a leading international Business Process Outsourcer (BPO) and Customer Management Outsourcing business (CMO) with clients in the private and public sectors. 
• Founded in 1996 it has grown to become one of the largest UK BPO companies (source: Ovum); the number one UK CMO provider (Source: Nelson Hall) and the market leader in Customer Management Services for Utilities in North America. 
• It provides a range of transformational service solutions to deliver winning outcomes for our clients in the areas of:
• Vertex employs circa 9,000 people who span 3 continents and 70 locations, delivering solutions to a wide range of clients 24/7, supporting 45 million customers internationally.
• Annually it processes 28m payment transactions valued at £1.7 billion and handle 20m inbound calls. It prints and despatches 45 million documents and process 2.7m items of incoming mail each year.

•  
  • BPO & CMO
  • IT Applications, Services and Products
  • Consulting and Transformation
  • Debt Management and Special Servicing
  • Decision Sciences

Vertex media enquiries to:

Anna Campopiano 

(t) +44 7827 886991

(e) anna.campopiano@vertex.co.uk

1. 1.      Business as unusual

It’s time to follow the Amazons and Virgins of this world, tune into consumer’s desires and do things a bit differently. Ruthless capitalism is out of the window and sustainability is the way forward. And this means more than just talking the ‘being a good, ethical business’ talk and actually walking the ‘greater transparency and honesty’ walk. It’s time to stop one-way advertising and for companies to actually engage with their consumers and understand what they really want.

1. 2.      Urbany

Less than 5% of the world’s population lived in cities a century ago. In 2008, that figure exceeded 50% and by 2050 it will have reached 70%.  More sophisticated and more demanding urban consumers are snapping up more ‘daring’ goods, services and experiences. And with nearly everyone online these days, rural dwellers are not far behind their city cousins. This creates fertile grounds for B2C brands as wealthy, urban communities are increasingly becoming the epicentres of innovation. A subtrend is urban pride with brands developing city-specific products and communications. Follow the example of Absolut’s mango and black pepper blend inspired by New Orleans, Guerlain’s city-themed perfumes and bank ATMs in East London where communications are given in Cockney rhyming slang.

1. 3.      Real-time reviews

Nowism is a mega-trend at the moment. A sub-trend of this is consumers tapping into a live stream of first-hand experiences so we can all follow what others are doing, listening to, watching, buying etc. Online access and device convergence – with Twitter currently leading the way – allow more on-the-spot reviews which, in turn, evoke conversations between potential buyers without the brand being able to monitor what is being said, let alone being able to respond. For example, EezeeRator from French Air Valid which allows passengers to post airline reviews while in flight. The best course of action for dealing with this new phenomena is to outperform so reviews are positive. Alternatively, look at involving consumers in all your development processes so eliminating the possibility of out-of-the-blue bad reviews.

1. 4.      (F)luxury

This year the concept of luxury is likely to remain in flux. Essentially, what constitutes luxury is closely related to what constitutes scarcity. And these days there are so many more ways to be unique than just buying the biggest and most expensive. Luxury could be anything commissioned? Time with one’s loved ones? All things local? Escape? Friends? Extreme personalisation? Knowledge? Health? Eccentricity? Or anything else? It’s all about finding the right trigger for the right audience. Brands need to appeal to the in-crowds ready to jump ship from products that have become too accessible. One initiative coming out of this is brands choosing to sell something desirable in limited locations such as Burberry’s Blue Label sold only in Japan and even an exclusive Krispy Kreme Terminal 5 doughnut at Heathrow.

1. 5.      Mass Mingling

More people than ever will be living large parts of their lives online in 2010. But social media and mobile communications are also fuelling mass mingling and increased human interaction in the real world. The more people socialise and network online the more likely they are to meet up with existing and new friends. Online services Foursquare, Google Latitude, Loopt and FireEagle are all about following, connecting to and ultimately meeting interesting people. When combined with blogs, tweets and Facebook updates ‘life-streaming’ is a reality. Terabytes of local online content and the mobile internet just add to this further. Mass mingling will be increasingly impromptu, temporary, meet ups of crowds with similar interests and the opportunities for anyone involved with anything that helps people get and stay in touch are obvious.

1. 6.      Eco-easy

Corporations and consumers these days are full of good intentions but serious eco-results will depend on making products and processes more sustainable without consumers even noticing or being left with any alternative option. This is likely to depend on forceful government intervention but also some serious corporate guts and brilliantly smart design and thinking. Examples such as Mexico City’s ban on businesses giving out plastic bags that are not biodegradable and Pret a Manger’s decision to stop selling tuna sandwiches leave consumers with no choice but to do the right thing.

1. 7.      Tracking and Alerting

If infolust (consumers lusting after relevant information) is the mega trend then tracking and alerting is the new form of searching sub-trend. Saving consumers time, it means they won’t miss out on things important to them so giving them a sense of control. Consumers crave relevant information if provided in a meaningful way. Users can wear Fitbit around the clock to monitor their activity and fitness levels; MySkyStatus lets passengers keep friends up-to-date on their travel progress; Mediclim alerts people suffering from arthritis, asthma and cardiovascular disease when weather conditions may trigger health problems; the NetHaggler allows users to set an alert when products reach a certain price and can create aggregate demand to negotiate bulk discounts and The Warm Cookie Radar send their customers email alerts when just-baked cookies roll out of their ovens.

1. 8.      Embedded generosity

With collaboration being such an integral part of the zeitgeist, expect lots of corporate giving schemes that allow consumers to co-donate or co-decide so making donating painless, if not automatic. Why not follow, or improve on, any of these intiatives – for every IKEA solar powered SUNNAN LED desk lamp sold another one is donated to UNICEF; Disney offer vouchers to their theme parks in return for participating organisations taking part in volunteer schemes; and Servus, a Canadian credit union, is handing out ten dollar bills giving 200,000 people the opportunity to create a Feel Good Ripple by spending the money on someone else.

1. 9.      Profile Myning

This isn’t about companies making money from creating personal profiles but rather consumers creating, and taking ownership of, their own profiles. Now that hundreds of millions maintain some kind of online presence, who’s going to set up an intermediary representing consumers willing to disclose part of their purchasing intentions and then invite companies to put in bids?  And expect a burgeoning market for services that protect and store a person’s increasingly valuable digital estate.

10.  Maturialism

This year will be more opinionated and more in your face than ever before. Thanks to the anything-goes online universe, consumers can handle much more quirky innovations and risqué communications than traditional marketers could ever have imagined. Dubbed maturialism (mature materialism) the question is how far brands should go to keep up with our daring and diverse culture. Maybe not as far as The Icecreamists with their x-rated flavours or Air New Zealand’s ad campaign with employees dressed in nothing but body paint, but we all need to be entering more mature, real conversations with our customers, making the most of them and displaying the same transparency and openess about our actions as individuals now display about their own lives.

We’re ten years old here at PhotoBox this year.  A privilege to have been part of a successful startup story, but also fascinating to have a front seat view of a traditional consumer market being completely transformed.

The digital shake up – loyalty under threat?

In 1999 digital photography didn’t exist as a consumer market. Leap forward to 2010 and only 8% of paid-for photo prints will come from roll film. That’s a lot of market coming up for grabs, and some did better than others in winning, or retaining a share of what used to be considered as one of the most ‘loyal’ markets in the UK.

For those old enough, consider.  The film market was dominated by brands like Boots, Kodak, Jessops and mail order giants Bonusprint and Truprint. Relative market shares were remarkably stable, reflecting a legendary ‘stickiness’ – 30 or 40 year relationships with a photo customer were commonplace.

Then digital came along. The question was in such a loyal market, how would the new kid on the block grab market share from the big players. Not a lot of scope there, right?

Well, actually – yes. Admittedly we had a lot of luck, I’m sure, but I believe the fact that we designed the customer to be the centre of our entire proposition allowed us to persuade many ‘loyal’ customers away from established brands and into our arms. “Why not just give us a go? ” we asked. 

Leapfrog trust; then forget loyalty

We set up simple services early and gave customers free orders to try us, free storage of digital photos online, and crucially, same-day turnaround service – because that’s what customers told us they wanted most.  Moreover, we tried very hard for every customer interaction to reflect the values that we (and our customers) thought most important in a photo service.  Lastly, we asked our customers to come back if they liked us, and to tell their friends.

In short, although newcomers, we asked our customers to trust us.

Customers demand trust and security

We handle people’s precious memories here. A service that’s big on trust. Our photobooks can reduce you to tears (trust me), but the same lessons apply to all.  If you can build trust, loyalty follows.  And trust is earned by simply listening hard to your customer’s needs, and trying just as hard to serve them as you yourself would like to be served.

PhotoBox succeeded, I’m sure, because we were successful at building trust, and still are. It’s my belief that the really successful brands of the next few years are going to be the ones who understand that we’re beyond the CRM metric known as ‘loyalty’.  Instead, we’re going to have to find ways of encouraging our customers to trust us and trying to find a way to measure that trust. Just like the photo business, it’s an evolution – and we’re excited to be at the forefront.

Before the recession, the high street became saturated with choice and price wars. Customers then really began to demand a product that suits them perfectly- and why not? If I were to pay for an expensive car, I’d expect it to be made in the colour I love, to my exact specifications so that I drove away feeling like, well, ‘me’. Then, in 2006, the world’s largest adidas store was created. Offering high-tech customisation to the masses and located on the glamorous Champs Elysees in Paris, the store has a unique ‘innovation centre’, providing customers with a professional and personal experience- completely tailored to them.  

I would refer to this as mass customisation. Allowing the customer to feel special and unique, buying an item that’s just perfect for them at a reasonable price. Why hasn’t this happened sooner? With the rise in online retailing, customers really can have something tailored for them.

For example, our partner companies forming the consumer forum really believe that customers should be at the centre of the business.

When founding A Suit That Fits.com, David and I felt really passionately that tailored suits should be accessible to everybody. We saw the rise in online shopping and realised that we could fuse regular shopping and online retailing to give our customers a unique experience.

The most important thing about mass customisation is service. It’s so important for companies to give customers exactly what they want. What if your customer has a special fabric that they want for their trousers? Why not let them use it? This generation’s customer is more astute, knowledgeable and has more choice than ever before. Want my advice for new businesses? Don’t sell a customer a product; make your customer exactly what they want!

Continuing their campaign to champion best practice when it comes to customer service, the Consumer Forum quizzed thousands of customers on everything from their online retailing experience to which brands they rate and what services they hate. Further key findings include:

What is Good Customer Service?

• When asked what constitutes ‘good customer service’, nearly two-thirds (60.9%) of respondents said that a personal response to their issue was most important, while 44.3% cited speed of response as an important factor.
• The majority of respondents (57.6%) felt that the best customer service is delivered in face to face situations, while 56.9% said that they receive the worst customer service over the phone.
• When asked what drives them to make a complaint, nearly a third (31.7%) of respondents answered ‘rude staff’.

Delivering great customer service: worth the hassle?

• When asked whether a good customer service experience would increase their loyalty to a brand 98.4% of respondents said ‘yes’.
• 97.7% of respondents said that experiencing bad customer service would compel them to take their business elsewhere.

The internet: delivering innovations in customer service?

• Consumers surveyed remain split down the middle when it comes to the levels of customer service offered online.  49% of respondents have seen an improvement in customer service since the introduction of the internet whilst 51% have experienced a decline.
• Yet surprisingly, nearly a third (31.5%) voted online customer service as being the best, twice as many as those who cited over the phone offerings (15.5%).
• When asked to give an example of excellent customer service online brands Amazon and Ebay were frequently referenced, with John Lewis and Marks & Spencer regularly cited as popular high-street retail brands.

On reviewing these results, LOVEFiLM CEO and Consumer Forum founder member Simon Calver comments:

‘These results provide a fascinating insight into what makes UK consumers want to spend and what makes them want to scream. Most significantly, these findings consolidate the link between great customer service and business productivity. They show that if customers are treated badly, they will simply go elsewhere.

 What’s interesting is the huge proportion of respondents that will feedback on their experiences – positive and negative – to family and friends. The creation of the Forum is about creating a platform to exchange this kind of feedback, but with the ear of businesses themselves. Essentially, we want to encourage an information flow – between consumers and businesses –  that will improve our businesses and make the consumer experience better. That some consumers still don’t expect any customer service at all from online retailers is shocking and just shows the need to start a dialogue.’

www.consumerforum.org.uk                   

Notes to Editors

• Customers from LOVEFiLM, Ella’s Kitchen, King of Shaves, Photobox and A Suit That Fits.com took part in the survey. Total number of participants: 2,392. Survey took place in Autumn 2009.
• The Consumer Forum is a unique organisation, being the only membership organisation to represent innovative companies that strive for and embody excellence in the levels of customer service that they provide.
• The Consumer Forum aims to promote the value of consumer-centric businesses via a concerted campaign aimed at customers, the Government, the media and other key influencers.
• Interviews with founder members are available on request.
• Search Consumer Forum on Facebook or follow us on twitter @consumerforum
• Website created by Reading Room
• For more information please contact Jessie Winston (jessiewinston@luther.co.uk) or Harriet Crosthwaite (harrietcrosthwaite@luther.co.uk ) on 0207 618 9100

Founder Members

• LOVEFiLM – The UK’s largest online DVD & games rental service and entertainment website
• Ella’s Kitchen – Healthy and tasty organic foods for babies and big little people*
• PhotoBox – UK and Europe’s number one online community for photo printing, sharing and personal publishing
• Chemist Direct – Online Pharmacist offering everything discounted online
• King of Shaves – Leading UK manufacturer of men’s & women’s shaving & skincare products
• Reading Room – Leading digital communications agency
• A Suit That Fits.com – Suits that are individually hand tailored for you
• Sharpham Park – The leading British producer of organic Spelt cereal from farm to fork

*Mums recently voted Ella’s Kitchen the most trusted baby food brand in the UK (Mum’s Views Ltd, 2009)

The other exciting news for 2010 is the launch of our sister site www.stationerydirect.co.uk <http://www.stationerydirect.co.uk/> aimed at providing thousands of stationery products at up to 90% off those prices found in other stationery outlets. The UK stationery and writing instruments market is estimated to be worth approximately £2.5bn, so it is a big market. By undercutting competitors and offering low cost prices, we hope to take on the big players. Watch this space on how it goes!

Mitesh Soma, January, 2010

Waitrose is an important customer of ours and a couple of days ago we received an email from them telling us that one of their customers from their Lincoln store had asked if they could help with an idea that customer had had.  The customer has set up a local company called www.getmummyfit.com which gets mums in Lincoln out exercising in the fresh air with their little ones by their side – meaning that they don’t need to worry about childcare.  Now Waitrose is a pretty large organisation and I’m sure it get approaches from all sorts of people all the time, but this customer got the attention of the Duty Manager in Lincoln, who got hold of the Baby Buyer in HQ who liaised with her supply chain to identify a selection of their Baby product suppliers who may be interested in supporting their consumer.  This information was then passed back to the local store who contacted us directly.

It may not seem like rocket science, but I was impressed not only with the getmummyfit.com concept, but particularly the customer focused response of Waitrose.  It would have been so easy for the request to get lost on the Duty or Store managers desk, or then stay at the bottom of the pile for things to get done by the HQ buying and supply chain teams, never mind the 15 minutes or so each person will have dedicated to finding appropriate suppliers details and feeding back to the local starting point who then bothered to follow up.  In a culture where customers don’t come first this extra effort would have broken down along the chain somewhere, as Waitrose are very, very busy this close to Christmas.  I’m extremely impressed that a single customer of a large supermarket in Lincoln can be heard and get an idea communicated through 3 or 4 people to secure a result – as we have gladly given our support to www.getmummyfit.com’s Buggy Fun Run in Lincoln (Sunday 21^st March if you’re up for it!).

John Lewis and Waitrose often rank very highly in consumers’ perceptions of customer focused companies. I wanted to share this little simple but inspiring example of how if you set a culture,  individual consumers can then be heard.