December 11, 2025
Dragons’ Den Magnate’s Retail Chains Boost Customer Support With NiCE CXone
UK shoppers are very familiar with the name Theo Paphitis of Dragon’s Den fame. The series, known as Shark Tank in the US, Who Wants to be my (Business) Partner in France, and Cave of Lions in Germany, saw him invest in many new ventures.
All were based on the Japanese originator series, Tigers of Money, that launched the mogul investment trend in 2001.
Besides the many businesses he has backed on the show, Theo’s many existing retail businesses include Ryman (office supplies), Boux Avenue (fashion), and Robert Dyas (homewares).
They will have struggled with their own legacy customer support services across his tenure. Now, Route 101 has launched a modernised and unified customer support platform across the brands that form the Theo Paphitis Retail Group.
Route 101 has deployed NiCE’s CXone Mpower and Gamma connectivity across the group. Unifying customer communication channels into one seamless platform, the implementation provides faster, more consistent, and more personalised customer experiences.
Fast and NiCE Implementation for Better Support
Route 10’s1 implementation provided connectivity to bring together voice, email, web chat, and social messaging on a single unified platform.
Despite the scale and complexity of the project – spanning three brands, multiple integrations, and delivery ahead of the busiest retail period (Christmas) – the full implementation was completed in just six weeks.
Integrated softphones and advanced call recording, giving agents the tools to handle interactions directly from their desktops, with full playback and compliance functionality.
- Social messaging integration, supporting direct customer engagement via Facebook and Instagram.
- Email routing via API, using web forms on brand websites to capture structured customer information.
- IVR (Interactive Voice Response) self-service, enabling customers to check their order status before speaking to an agent.
- Post-call voice surveys, with results fed into NiCE and pulled into TPRG’s internal data platform.
Rhian Thomas, Head of Customer Care, Theo Paphitis Retail Group reported, “The new platform has transformed how we support our customers. Our advisors now have everything they need in one place, which makes interactions faster and smoother for both our teams and our shoppers. Route 101 guided us through every stage of the project, and their support throughout the rollout made the whole process feel straightforward. We’ve come out of it with a solution that works brilliantly across all of our brands.”
“This implementation is a fantastic example of what can be achieved through true collaboration and focus,” said Russell Attwood, CEO and Founder of Route 101. “Delivering such a complex, multi-brand rollout in just six weeks, and ahead of the peak trading season, highlights both the agility of the NiCE platform and the strength of our partnership with TPRG.”
Check out the case study for more insight.
NiCE Goes Large in South Africa
NiCE continues to roll up the successes with CXOne around the world. It recently announced the launch of a new local CXone Mpower instance in South Africa, giving regulated enterprises a powerful platform that delivers secure compliant and high impact customer experiences with full national data residency.
With data centres in Cape Town and Johannesburg, the platform keeps all applications and customer data inside the country, while supporting the rapid shift toward real time AI supported engagement with agentic AI capabilities, enabling smarter interactions, stronger outcomes, and more connected journeys across every channel.
