In this guest article, Rituals Global Travel Retail Director Melvin Broekaart writes about Rituals’ 360-degree travel concept, through which the brand owner aims to take wellbeing to the traveller on every leg of their trip.
For today’s travelling consumer, the best experience is one that is purpose-driven, wellness-focused and gives them the best value for money[1]. Consumers are paying increased attention to their health in both body and mind; more than eight out of ten consumers surveyed globally believe that physical and mental wellness is important, and more than 40% say that it is a priority in their daily lives[2].
Today’s consumer is conscious of their wellbeing as well as the wellbeing of those around them, therefore their trips tend to be less frivolous and better planned. These conscious travellers will expect a more diverse and sustainable offer at all touchpoints throughout their trips, and it is up to brands to meet travellers wherever they go.
This shift in the nature of consumer engagement is at the heart of Rituals’ 360-degree travel concept that brings wellbeing to the traveller on every leg of their journey, be it by plane, ship or ferry. Our sustainable hotel amenities business extends our relationship with the consumer beyond the retail offer and allows us to make the traveller’s time away from home even more pleasurable and meaningful.
Our growth strategy is focused on the idea of making wellbeing more widely available by expanding our footprint across the travel retail channel in three key areas. First, through our standalone store expansion in key cities around the world; growth in the cruise and ferry channel; and through an extension of our hotel network and partnerships.
Standalone store growth
As the ultimate expression of Rituals’ wellbeing ethos, standalone stores are a key part of our expansion strategy. We believe that brands can deliver a much stronger and more holistic brand experience in a standalone store, which supports more impactful storytelling and brand relationship-building with consumers. This emphatically signposts us a wellbeing brand, supporting travellers in finding the products or experiences that they are clearly looking for.
In December we opened a 45sq m standalone store at London Heathrow Terminal 5, Rituals’ 14th in global travel retail. It is one of the first to feature our new boutique concept which is designed to maximise space without compromising on the assortment. The newly opened store at Schiphol B-Pier is our second store that features the boutique concept. Located in a high-traffic area, it is our fifth standalone store at the airport in our home country of the Netherlands.
Standalone store growth doesn’t stop here. By the end of 2022, we aim to have 30 standalone stores in total, with four new standalone stores confirmed for Barcelona, Madrid, Palma and Alicante airports.
Shop-in-shops
Rituals is also expanding the duty-free shop-in-shop offering, to expand the wellbeing offering for travellers in the most strategic locations to reach them. We have exciting plans to open seven new shop-in-shops in the Middle East for the second quarter of this year, followed by openings in Cambodia, Indonesia and Malaysia later in the year.
One of our proudest new additions to our shop-in-shop line-up is onboard Viking Glory, the seventh ferry in Viking Line’s fleet which arrived in Finland in February and started sailing on the Turku-Mariehamn-Stockholm route in March. Not only has this opening been a commercial success but it is also in line with our sustainability goals. The Viking Glory has been heralded as a flagship for sustainability as it has 66% more cargo capacity than its predecessor, the Amorella, but is expected to produce around 25% less emissions.
We are very proud to be onboard one of the world’s most climate-smart vessels and work with partners who share the same values.
Hotels
The hotel channel is one of the biggest opportunities for us to extend the reach of wellbeing. We are expanding our partnership with Novotel hotels, which has already launched successfully across France and will be rolled out to the rest of Europe by the end of the year. The partnership has been celebrated with a launch event in Paris.
In autumn this year, the partnership will be extended to the US and Canada. The introduction of Rituals’ Karma hotel collection to the Novotel experience encourages guests to prioritise self-care and moments of stillness throughout their stay, while complimentary gifts support them in integrating wellbeing practices after they return home.
Rituals is actively exploring opportunities to grow our hotel business in new regions such as Eastern Europe. With the launch of two new hotel collections, The Ritual of Jing and The Ritual of Mehr, which join the already existing Ritual of Karma, we feel well equipped to enter new markets with hotel collections that contain over 90% ingredients from natural origin.
Following the restrictions of the pandemic, travel is finally becoming an enticing – and even more meaningful – activity for consumers again. The travel retail channel has arguably gained even more importance, and this in tandem with personal wellbeing becoming increasingly important to our consumers.
This alignment presents us with an invaluable opportunity to reach consumers where they need us most, bringing huge potential for growth in all regions across airports, cruises & ferries, hotels and airlines. With travel retail being the first introduction of the Rituals brand to many consumers worldwide, it is important that we keep growing and investing in this channel with the aim to build brand awareness and offering consumers more opportunities to take a moment to take care of their wellbeing wherever they are.
[1] Future trends impacting travel retail, m1nd-set, February 2022
[2] Health & Wellbeing in travel retail – m1nd-set May 2022
Note: The Moodie Davitt Report has launched an e-newsletter, Wellbeing Curated, in association with Rituals. It offers a curated selection of stories focused on the key wellbeing category in travel retail and beyond.
To subscribe free of charge please email Kristyn@MoodieDavittReport.com headed ‘Curated Wellbeing’. All stories are permanently archived on this website. If you would like to be added to its mailing list (or to those for any other Moodie Davitt titles), please click here.
