Riverside Greetings, a supplier to the convenience and forecourt industry, has teamed up with marketing and engineering experts at Leeds Beckett University to bring academic knowledge, experience, and insight into the business to accelerate its growth and sustainability.
A team of academics will work with Riverside Greetings, which designs and supplies cards to convenience retailers including Spar, Nisa and Costcutter, on the two-year Management Knowledge Transfer Partnership (mKTP) that is part-funded by the government through Innovate UK.
Andrew Glen, Managing Director of Riverside Greetings, said: “We are delighted to be working with Leeds Beckett on a mKTP which will transform the greeting card category in the growing convenience sector, whilst creating a step change in the growth of our business and additional jobs. Our mission is to help convenience retailers sell more greetings cards and they will benefit from performance improvements – and their shoppers will benefit from a proposition which is better tailored to their needs.”
Co-leader, Dr Esther Pugh, Senior Lecturer in Business Strategy and Marketing, added: “Our mKTP will bring together experts from across the university – our focus will be on strategic marketing, productivity, and developing cutting-edge new technology for managing and analysing data within the company.”
A graduate has been recruited to conduct the project, as a full-time member of staff within the business, and with the full support and input of the academic team at Leeds Beckett. The academics all have experience of working with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on knowledge exchange projects.
The partnership will also bring training and development opportunities for staff at Riverside Greetings through Leeds Beckett, as well as live commercial projects for students at the university to work on.
