NESTLÉ has invested £1 million in a new centre to help its customers sell more of its products.

The Nestlé UK Insight and Learning Centre was officially opened on Friday by senior directors of the global business, which employs 1,800 at its York operations.

The business originally built an insight and learning centre in 2008 to demonstrate its confectionery products to retailers, but it has now trebled in size to cover Nestlé UK’s entire product range including coffee, cereals, pet food and waters.

It now features an Imax cinema, replica living room and working kitchen, full-size convenience store, and digital media area.

The Insight and Learning Centres, which are established world wide by Nestle, use consumer and shopper research with digital technology to help retailers maximise their sales.

They are used to demonstrate how people behave when shopping and when using Nestlé products at home. Paul Bulcke, chief executive of Nestlé SA, attended the opening ceremony, joined by Laurent Freixe, Nestlé executive vice president and zone director for Europe, and Paul Grimwood, chief executive and chairman of Nestlé UK and Ireland.

Mr Bulcke said: “This world-class facility is an important addition to the Nestlé York structure and builds further on the centre of excellence for Nestlé globally.”

Mr Grimwood said the centre set Nestlé apart from its competitors.

“In the centre’s first 18 months, we hosted 355 retail customer visits and generated more than £20 million in incremental sales, which is why we chose to expand to incorporate Nestlé’s wide range of products.”

Mr Grimwood said he had already held initial visits for customers in the couple of weeks before the official opening. “The results from the initial visits we have hosted in the new extension have already covered its cost. For us, the return on investment is clear,” he said.