INTERNATIONAL. Nestlé International Travel Retail (NITR) held a press conference at the TFWA World Exhibition last month to review its 2010 YTD performance and present its marketing plan for 2011.
Speaking to the trade press, NITR Customer Marketing Manager Alan Brennan noted that spend levels in the confectionery category have bounced back in 2010 compared to 2009, with the Informal, Premium and Family Gifting sub-categories recording a positive sales trend. Total sales have improved by +8% versus last year (2010 YTD) with the segment of Snacking delivering double-digit growth at +15%.
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(L-R) Customer Marketing Manager Alan Brennan, Marketing Manager Frederic Porchet and Head of Sales Roland Stieger |
Informal Gifting has returned a “solid” sales performance YTD, added Brennan, while Premium Gifting has recorded a “positive” sales growth as shoppers start to return to this segment and that of Destination Gifting.
Similarly, Family Gifting has returned a positive sales growth YTD but it is evident that shoppers are continuing to seek greater value and gifting appeal within this segment.
Leading overall category growth in 2010 is the Snacking segment, with Self Consumption in particular seeing significant increases in sales as shoppers maximise their spend and purchase more confectionery on impulse.
“The business opportunity to drive penetration and conversion into confectionery has never been greater,” stated Brennan, citing that 80% of confectionery purchases are decided at the fixture.
“50% of all shoppers who enter the store will enter confectionery; the key is to drive interaction with the confectionery category as 52% of those who interact go onto make a purchase,” he underlined.
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The Perfect Store’s Informal Gifting segment is designed to make the category easy to understand and easy to shop |
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The Nestlé Swiss sensory fixture is designed to drive engagement with the category and the brand, providing shoppers with the opportunity to explore the very essence of the Nestlè Swiss brand through engagement in a new way |
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A bird’s eye view of the retailing layout in Nestlé’s “˜Perfect Store’ |
The “˜Perfect Store’ initiative, launched last year, continues to be NITR’s key driver for activating the category and bringing confectionery to life.
The concept is built on key shopper and category insights, with a focus on the following principles:
– Make confectionery EASY to understand and EASY to shop
– Encourage shoppers to INTERACT with the category
– Make confectionery ACCESSIBLE to ALL shoppers
– Build confectionery displays based on HOW shoppers SHOP
In the past year NITR has activated a number of Perfect Store initiatives centred on these principles through four category drivers – Ease of Shop, Relevant Gifting, On the Go Snacking, Engage Entice and Convert – to increase sales within the confectionery category. These are designed to benefit sales by 15-20%.
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Click here to view the enlarged image (then hover over graphs with your cursor and click for full detail) |
MARKETING PLAN 2011
Building on its shopper focus, NITR has based its 2011 product development on meeting shopper needs by providing product solutions centred on its three global brands: Nestlé Swiss, Smarties and Kit Kat, along with regional brands After Eight and Quality Street.
“Changing the size/shape/pack format of a product can enhance the product experience and meet additional consumer needs,” noted NITR Marketing Manager Frederic Porchet. Formats conducive for sharing and that are portable and “portionable” can help consumers to ease the cognitive dissonance caused by indulging in chocolate treats.
Nestlé Swiss
Strong growth has been seen in the high-end informal gifting sector, which NITR believes that Nestlé Swiss is “perfectly placed” to exploit. Exclusive to travel retail, Nestlé Swiss has performed above all expectations during the past 12 months with sales of the 400g bars showing a double percentage increase year-on-year.
Making a significant contribution to NITR’s travel retail global business, Nestlé Swiss sees further premiumisation with new look packaging that creates a more sophisticated look without losing the essential “Swiss pureness and authenticity” feel.
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The 180g Nestlé Swiss Selection comprises three varieties of chocolate squares topped with ingredients: dark chocolate with almond and cranberries, milk chocolate with lemon and almonds, and milk chocolate with caramel and salt |
Further building on the brand’s momentum, NITR has introduced a new flavour in the 400g bars range – Nestlé Swiss Dark Orange – which leverages on the trend towards dark chocolate.
Also new is a 180g Nestlé Swiss Selection, comprising three varieties of chocolate squares topped with ingredients: dark chocolate with almond and cranberries, milk chocolate with lemon and almonds, and milk chocolate with caramel and salt. This premium presentation box crosses the divide between informal and premium gifting, offering a different format for Nestlé Swiss with new recipes.
Smarties
NITR reaffirms its close link with Disney by bringing back Mickey Mouse and friends Minnie Mouse and Donald Duck in two brand new product concepts – both exclusive to travel retail.
Combining play appeal to fire up children’s imaginations while taking into account the requirement for portion control, both are gifts designed to have a high-value perception at an affordable price.
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The Smarties Disney Mickey Box contains five 38g tubes of Smarties along with a collectible figurine of Mickey |
The first is the Smarties Disney Mickey Box, available in three collectable versions. Each box contains five 38g tubes of Smarties along with a collectible figurine of Mickey, Minnie or Donald. The figurine is visible through a see-through section of the box.
The Smarties Mini Disney Pouch comes in two versions: Mickey and Minnie, with strong dynamic graphics for instant shelf appeal. Each pouch contains six mini boxes of Smarties along with Disney stickers for extra play value.
Kit Kat
Porchet noted that in today’s health-conscious world, portion control and calorie counting are more important than ever – particularly to women. The new Kit Kat Singles pack containing 12 individually wrapped single-finger wafers is therefore set to be “a big hit” in travel retail, he added. Each wafer contains 80 calories – clearly displayed on the outer dispensing box.
Exclusive to travel retail, the Kit Kat Singles pack capitalises on both the growing snacking market and targets women particularly – a market niche not widely explored within this category. “An excellent till point product for impulse sales, this is expected to be a major seller for 2011,” Porchet stated.
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(Left) The new Kit Kat Singles pack containing 12 individually wrapped single-finger wafers capitalises on both the growing snacking market and women; (Right) The Kit Kat Origins Box highlights the brand’s English heritage |
The TFWA show also saw the relaunch of the Kit Kat Chunky range with a new design to make it more giftable and qualitative, plus a brand new hazelnut flavour. Kit Kat Chunky also highlights the easy portioning of the product thanks to its dented format. It comes in multipacks of six, either individual or mixed flavours, all of which are exclusive to travel retail.
In the Destination Gifting segment, the new Kit Kat Origins Box highlights the English heritage of this four finger count-line. In milk or dark varieties, each box of 14 Kit Kat features well-known English trademarks of a London bus, Big Ben and the UK flag, providing an emotional link between the brand and its origins.
Quality Street
To mark Quality Street’s 75th anniversary in 2011, NITR is introducing new travel retail exclusive packaging that harks back to the old, original days of the iconic Mackintosh’s Major and Miss.
These new premium presentations – available as an 850g tin, 438g carton or 750g sharing bag – aim to offer a real point of difference over the domestic market. Each also bears a special 75 years anniversary logo, which again will only be found in travel retail.
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Quality Street’s new 75th anniversary travel retail exclusive packaging harks back to the old, original days of the iconic Mackintosh’s Major and Miss; the premium presentations are available as an 850g tin, 438g carton or 750g sharing bag |
Snacking and Sharing
NITR has also enhanced its Sharing Packs by mixing them up in the new Mini Mix 500g Sharing Pack and a 1080g Mini Mix Sharing Pillow bag. Both contain a mixture of NITR brands such as Smarties, Kit Kat, Rolo, Lion, and Aero.
These join new smaller snack packs of NITR favourites Nestlé Swiss, Kit Kat, After Eight, and Quality Street – introduced as part of the growing trend towards portioned self indulgence and on-the-go snacking. Designed for impulse purchase at the till point, bags weigh between 145g and 220g.
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The 1080g Mini Mix Sharing Pillow bag contains a mixture of NITR brands such as Smarties, Kit Kat, Rolo, Lion, and Aero |
Seasonal specialities
NITR has introduced an “˜All White‘ range aimed at the winter festive season – a traditionally high sales period in confectionery. Exclusive to travel retail, the design has been carefully considered to offer a full winter sales opportunity. It features crisp winter white packaging with a seasonal ribbon imprint in colours to suit the brand in question: Nestlé Swiss (red), After Eight (green) and Quality Street (purple). The range is already available to boost the winter 2010 sales.
The Nestlé Swiss offer includes an exclusive double pack of 400g bars and a 460g box of Nestlé Swiss Napolitains. The After Eight offer is also based on two x 400g boxes, while Quality Street comes in a 500g tin.
NITR Head of Sales Roland Stieger said: “For NITR, 2010 has proved an excellent year and we’ve seen solid growth in our business across the portfolio. On current performance, we expect next year to deliver some seriously impressive growth rates, as more and more retailers take up our Perfect Store initiative and we continue to offer travellers an exclusive product range which continues to capitalise on the strength of NITR’s worldwide renowned brands. We would invite all retailers to embark on this exciting journey with us.”
For more information, contact Roland Stieger, Nestlé International Travel Retail, tel: +41 21 948 29 71, or e-mail: roland.stieger@nestle.com
