FRANCE. Premium confectionery house Lindt & Sprüngli highlighted its gifting credentials at the TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes, where it presented its latest novelties and ran a gifting drive.
Lindt & Sprüngli’s upcoming innovations are driven by a recent study with Polaris Market Research that explored specific growth opportunities in the confectionery category.
The innovations included the Lindor Tube Flavour Edition 400g, Captain Cocoa and Captain Skyla lines, and Destination Sleeves for its Napolitains and Swiss Masterpieces collections.
The travel retail-exclusive Lindor Tube Flavour Edition 400g will launch in the fourth quarter of 2023. It will be a permanent addition to the Lindor portfolio and offers four flavours including Lindor’s newest double chocolate and milk & white flavour.
The Lindor Tube Flavour Edition was designed to appeal to a broad audience as a gift that transcends different occasions.
The playful, travel-themed Captain Cocoa & Captain Skyla 250g expressions cater to a gap in the kids’ segment and will launch in the second quarter of 2024. It marks a strategic push to offer more products that cater to the whole family, a consumer segment which makes up 42% of gifting recipients according to Polaris.
Lindt has created two carrier boxes and a supporting pouch in blue and pink colourways for Captain Cocoa and Captain Skyla, respectively. Inside, mono-flavoured milk, nut-free Napolitains are wrapped in four vibrant travel-themed wrappers that feature the two mascots.
The Napolitains and Swiss Masterpieces Destination Sleeves enhance the Sense of Place of Lindt’s gifting offer. According to the Polaris study, 21% of travellers are looking for gifts as a souvenir while 17% look for gifts that remind them of home.
The Napolitains Carrier Box 500g has been redesigned to offer Sense of Place elements inspired by the UK, France, Germany and Italy. Launching at the end of 2023, these are crafted with high-quality cardboard with a transparent window on the side that reveals the flavours within.
The Swiss Masterpieces 143g Destination Sleeves will roll out in the second half of 2024. They offer Sense of Place elements and feature the skylines of popular travel destinations such as Switzerland, Hong Kong and Dubai.
Thanks to its research project with Polaris Market Research, Lindt’s refreshed ‘For Me, For Us, For Them’ category vision now includes important consumer insights from Germany, Spain, Saudi Arabia and China. Lindt & Sprüngli has identified four key growth pillars as part of this category vision: Be Seen, Say it With Chocolate, Taste Discoveries and Sharing the Adventure.
The company believes that by driving the four pillars it will be able to cater to the diverse needs of global travel retail shoppers. It also believes that the pillars will drive wider confectionery growth and further establish confectionery as the top footfall and conversion driver in travel retail.
The first two pillars – Be Seen and Say It With Chocolate – are of particular importance. Lindt’s research suggests that one of the biggest hurdles to travel retail conversion is store/category navigation. With 40% of confectionery purchases occurring outside the core category space, Lindt & Sprüngli believes that more space should be dedicated to the category, enhancing visibility and availability across multiple touchpoints on the traveller journey.
Say it With Chocolate highlights the power of gifting and personalisation in driving confectionery growth and underlines the need for greater space allocation within the travel retail environment.
Watch the YouTube video above of our recent Moodie Davitt Video interview with Lindt & Sprüngli Head of Global Travel Peter Zehnder filmed on location at the TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes
Lindt & Sprüngli Head of Global Travel Retail Peter Zehnder commented: “With shopper behaviour in global travel retail constantly evolving, it is important that we regularly review our category vision to ensure our offer remains relevant.
“Our research indicates that global travel retail shoppers have different reasons to buy, with 25% of consumers purchasing to delight others, so our goal is to capitalise on the year-round gifting opportunities that the channel presents.”
To promote the gifting appeal of its portfolio, Lindt gifted several delegates at the TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes with special Lindor gift boxes to show appreciation.
Zehnder continued: “To celebrate our ongoing commitment to enchant the world with chocolate, this year at the TFWA World Exhibition we wanted to recognise special individuals within the travel retail community. It’s a small act of gratitude to those who go above and beyond in their roles to foster growth, sustainability and better partnership in our channel.” ✈
