Introduction: What can confectionery tell us about the wider opportunities facing travel retail? In this guest article, Mondelez World Travel Retail Vice President and Managing Director Joost Rosmuller looks beyond individual categories to examine how a different approach to engaging travellers could help the industry capture growth that has so far proved elusive.
91% of consumers snack every day, yet only 8% buy confectionery in travel retail. For me, that is not a demand problem but a relevance problem, and it shows just how much opportunity we have to make the category more appealing to travellers.
At the TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes, I had the pleasure of co-hosting a breakfast discussion with Diageo Global Travel Managing Director Andrew Cowan, moderated by Heathrow Head of Category for Duty Free Luxury and High Street Nancy Stewart. The conversation brought together more than 30 industry leaders, and it reinforced that the growth we are all looking for is already there. We just need to give travellers a better reason to engage.
The longer-term outlook is encouraging. IATA forecasts 5.2 billion air passengers in 2026, with demand expected to double by 2050. The global duty-free market is projected to grow from US$76 billion to US$87 billion by 2031, while confectionery is already a US$4.1 billion category, growing +8% annually.
Yet only 28% of travellers shop duty free, although more than half of non-buyers say they would consider it. Some 57% walk past duty-free stores without browsing. But of those who reach the confectionery aisle, one in two makes a purchase. If we can get more travellers to stop and look around, we have a good chance of turning them into shoppers.
The challenge is getting their attention. As I mentioned in Cannes, we are competing with Netflix, Instagram and WhatsApp as much as with other retailers. We need to give travellers a reason to put down their phones and explore. Our activations have consistently delivered double-digit category growth, proving that discovery-led experiences outperform price-led promotions.
Understanding different traveller needs
One of the themes that came through strongly in Cannes was the need to stop treating ‘the traveller’ as a single consumer. A business traveller rushing to a connection has a completely different mindset compared to a family heading on holiday or a couple celebrating an anniversary.
Our ‘Destination: Value’ research, drawing on insights from 7,200 travellers across 32 airports, identified four growth drivers that address different stages of the traveller journey: Consideration, making duty free part of pre-trip plans; Penetration, turning footfall into shoppers; Volume, encouraging cross-category purchases; and Value, giving travellers reasons to spend more on something special.
Making discovery part of the journey
Travel retail has an advantage that shopping at home does not: people are in a different frame of mind when travelling. They might be excited about the trip ahead or thinking about what to bring back. A bar of chocolate bought at the airport can become part of that experience, whether as a treat for the journey or a small gift that says, “I thought of you.”
Our Very Limited Toblerone editions, including Strawberry Matcha, Pistachio Gelato, Vanilla Gelato, Eton Mess and Crunchy Popcorn, build on that interest in discovery. They offer flavours travellers cannot find at home, and these activations have consistently delivered double-digit growth across the confectionery category, extending the benefit beyond Toblerone.
Our Milka × Monopoly collaboration encouraged shoppers to interact with the brand, while our personalised Toblerone sleeve printer turns a purchase into a personal moment. With Toblerone Pink Crush, we extended the activation across the terminal, building curiosity before travellers reached the store, increasing dwell time and benefiting neighbouring categories.
Thinking in occasions, not categories
We already see what happens when confectionery and spirits are positioned together around gifting occasions: a bottle and a box, a celebration and a sweet moment. Basket size increases and dwell time extends. Travellers do not think in categories; they think in occasions: “What do I bring back?”, “How do I celebrate?” and “What makes this trip special?” When we design the store around those questions rather than around category planograms, we unlock spend that neither category captures alone.
Digital platforms, personalised recommendations and pre-order options can extend this further by introducing products before people even arrive at the airport and connecting early interest with actual store visits.
From ambition to action
Twelve months ago, we launched Destination: Value as an industry-wide growth vision. Since then, we have put it into practice with retail and airport partners across multiple markets, and the results speak for themselves.
Our Very Limited Toblerone editions, Milka × Monopoly, Pink Crush and personalised sleeve activations have each delivered strong category uplifts, not just for our brands but for confectionery as a whole. These are not one-off experiments. They are a proven, repeatable model for driving penetration, dwell time and cross-category engagement.
Over the next 12 months, we want to go further with partners who have the courage to experiment, to test new formats, to co-invest in activations that put the traveller first and measure the results honestly. By the time we return to Cannes next year, I am confident we’ll have even more tangible evidence of what happens when this industry moves from talking about traveller-centric retailing to actually doing it.
That is the commitment we are making at Mondelez World Travel Retail – and we are inviting the industry to make it with us. ✈
