Hershey World Travel Retail will introduce a new Dipped Pretzels line at next week’s TFWA Asia Pacific Exhibition in Singapore (Basement 2, 2-K29).
The product will hit the spotlight as the US company looks to unlock opportunities and increase conversion in the confectionery & food category.
Hershey World Travel Retail Director Rebecca Wong said she is confident of a strong year in the Asia Pacific region.
“Confectionery remains a key category for travel retail in Asia, commanding the second highest footfall behind only perfumes in 2022, and the highest purchase and conversion rates,” she said. Wong referenced data for airports from travel retail research agency m1nd-set, adding that “conversion rates in APAC are also above the global average for confectionery”.
“Even so, we know that almost 50% of confectionery visitors in the region – and over 90% of total travellers – do not make a purchase, which represents a huge opportunity for the category. A key part of unlocking this opportunity is ensuring that our shoppers and consumers are at the heart of everything we do.”
On recent changes in shopper behaviour, Wong noted a considerable shift away from gifting and towards snacking purchases. According to the m1nd-set data, self and share purchases made up two-thirds of duty free purchases in the region in 2022, while gifting dropped to just a third, almost half of pre-pandemic levels.
Wong believes Hershey’s latest addition to its travel retail portfolio – the Dipped Pretzels range – will meet the demands of this changing market.
Presented in 240g packs, the pretzels are available in three varieties: Hershey’s Dipped Pretzels Milk Chocolate, Hershey’s Pretzels Cookies ‘n’ Crème and Reese’s Dipped Pretzels Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter. The line will be available for sampling during the Singapore event and across travel retail in the Americas, the Middle East and selected markets in Europe.
Wong said Hershey’s expects gifting to rebound, particularly as Chinese travellers re-enter the market following the easing of COVID travel restrictions.
“It is imperative that we focus on the here and now, capitalise on current trends and maximise sales recovery while passenger numbers continue to improve, particularly after such a prolonged period of restrictions.”
“We are seeing huge demand for alternative snacking options globally, but duty free shoppers still currently face a limited offering in comparison to domestic markets”
Wong noted that Hershey offers a wide variety of snacking brands that extend beyond traditional confectionery and into categories including chips, popcorn, and pretzels.
“We are pleased to be able to leverage this portfolio to bring something that we believe is innovative and unique to travel retail and provide our customers an opportunity to extend their confectionery range into an adjacent, high-growth snacking category,” she said.
“We are seeing huge demand for alternative snacking options globally, but duty free shoppers still currently face a limited offering in comparison to domestic markets.”
According to Euromonitor data, the savoury snacks industry is worth US$218 billion globally, and has recently overtaken confectionery (US$203 billion) having grown at +5.3% per year over the last five years (versus +2.0% for confectionery), with pretzels growing ahead of the industry at +5.8%.
Hershey’s said that its Dipped Pretzels have performed well on the US domestic market, growing at an estimated +10.6% last year to US$79 million in sales.
“We also know that confectionery is highly impulsive; one of the top category visit drivers is purely to browse, and almost two thirds of purchases are made on impulse,” Wong added.
Citing figures from Pi Insight’s 2022 Global Duty Free Confectionery Shopper Study, with lack of interest in the offer identified as a key purchase barrier, she said: “It is crucial that we continue to captivate shoppers, and disrupt the habitual browsing that we know occurs in duty free by offering shoppers something new and exciting each time they travel.
“While shoppers are increasingly on the lookout for new and different, we know that they still seek products from well-known, global brands that they trust. Hershey’s Dipped Pretzels combine the sweet taste of chocolate with the salty crunch of pretzels, creating a satisfying flavour contrast and point of difference versus traditional confectionery, while simultaneously leveraging the strength and scale of Hershey’s global brands,” Wong concluded. 
