In this guest article, Mondelez World Travel Retail Vice President and Managing Director Joost Rosmuller assesses the company’s Destination: Value growth vision and talks about why collaboration matters in securing the future.
Over recent years, we’ve seen undeniable shifts in the behaviour, expectations and emotional drivers of travellers. These changes are not small course corrections; they represent a fundamental rethinking of why people shop in travel retail and what they now perceive as value.
During our recent Destination: Value webinar, we explored these dynamics in depth. The message that came through loud and clear is this: if we want to fully unlock the next phase of growth for the confectionery category, and travel retail as a whole, we need to better understand the traveller mindset and we must act on that understanding together.
For years, our industry has discussed declining penetration, shifting demographics and disrupted traveller behaviours. But talking about change is not enough. The traveller is no longer a passive shopper stumbling upon a purchase. Today’s traveller is intentional. They are seeking experiences aligned to their journey, their mood, and their sense of reward. Travel retail cannot rely solely on price communications or transactional mechanics. The journey itself must feel worth it.
This is why Mondelez World Travel Retail has invested deeply in research – including 7,200 traveller interviews, global data partnerships and the expertise of a behavioural scientist – to go beyond assumptions and get closer to the truth of what drives decisions in the travel environment. Because insight is only meaningful when it fuels action.
Embracing insight-driven innovation
Behavioural science reminds us that humans rarely make decisions in the rational way we imagine they do. Travellers respond to cues, emotional triggers, ease and perceived reward. When we understand those drivers, we unlock new forms of value creation:
- Value isn’t only price – it’s experience.
- Visibility alone isn’t enough – relevance matters.
- Convenience isn’t a bonus – it is a baseline expectation.
Our new Destination: Value growth vision is built to reflect this. It focuses on four shared growth drivers that depend on collective action across the channel:
- Consideration – inspiring travellers to think about confectionery before they shop.
- Penetration – converting more travellers into shoppers.
- Volume – increasing the number of purchases at one or more touchpoints.
- Value – helping travellers feel that what they buy is worth it.
But these drivers only work when we move forward together.
A call to action for the Trinity
While innovation, differentiation and competition are essential drivers in our industry, we also recognise the importance of collaboration towards shared objectives. By working together to address common challenges and promote industry-wide advancements, we can unlock new opportunities and enhance the overall value proposition for everyone.
If penetration continues to fall, we all lose. If we fail to understand and respond to traveller needs, we all fall behind. Conversely, when we collectively succeed in making travel retail more relevant, rewarding and easy to shop, everyone wins – brands, retailers, airports, and most importantly, travellers.
This is why data sharing, collaboration and insight matter. We cannot say “the traveller has changed” and then continue doing things the way we always have; we need to learn, test, adapt and iterate together.
The future of travel retail is not about protecting silos, it is about growing the total. Our role now is to listen to travellers with greater curiosity, share insights with greater transparency, innovate with greater courage and measure success through a longer-term lens.
The traveller journey has changed. We have the research, the frameworks and the collaborative tools to respond. The question is whether we are ready to take that step as one industry.
At Mondelez World Travel Retail, we are committed to leading that step, not alone, but with you. Because when travel retail thrives, everyone benefits. And when we unlock value, not just price value, but emotional, experiential and meaningful value, the journey truly becomes the reward. ✈
