UK. Members of the Travel Retail Consortium (TRC) and some 28 retail buyers from across the UK attended the 21st TRC annual event on the island of Jersey in the Channel Islands, voting it as the “˜best ever’. The event programme included a wine blending experience and lunch at La Mare Wine Estate followed by a flower-themed Gala Dinner.
After tasting various wines from the 25-acre La Mare vineyard, guests were grouped into tables of ten to test their knowledge of wine aromas and then create a series of blended white wines from four unlabelled bottles. Each table then put forward its blended wine of choice (named with tasting notes) for an overall winner to be chosen.
Guests were then treated to a buffet lunch with time to tour the vineyard before returning back to the Hotel de France in St Helier.
In the evening, a Champagne reception was followed by a black tie Gala Dinner and Summer Ball, which had a flower theme in celebration of the island’s annual Flower Festival. A “˜Consortium Casino’ and dancing entertained guests until the early hours.
“For Consortium members and buyers, our annual event is a brilliant social networking opportunity,” said Travel Retail Consortium Chair Jan Kristiansen. “The emphasis is on fun; there are no formal presentations and the environment is deliberately “˜non-business’ focused. It gives both suppliers and retailers a great opportunity to meet old friends and gain new contacts for the future whilst enjoying themselves.”
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Guests at the 21st TRC annual event, which included members and some 28 retail buyers from across the UK, were treated to a wine blending experience and lunch at La Mare Wine Estate followed by a flower-themed Gala Dinner | |
Guests at this year’s event included representatives from British Airways, P&O, Condor, DFDS, Harding Brothers, Flybe and Jet2.
BA Business Development Retail Category Executive Peter O’Shea said: “The TRC events are always great fun and the venue this year was excellent – but mostly it was the people who made the whole thing so enjoyable. It’s a great opportunity to meet up with other industry members in a relaxed and “˜non-business’ environment and the Consortium clearly put in a great deal of time and effort to ensure we had a memorable stay.”
Jet2.com Buying Manager Kirsty Crowther added: “Not only was the TRC event on Jersey great fun, it also offered a chance to network with like-minded people from within our industry. I particularly enjoyed the wine blending at the Le Mare Wine Estate where some of us took the competition to concoct the perfect wine a little too seriously.”
TRC is now actively seeking both to increase membership in relevant categories and to raise its profile within the business, with the aim of attracting a wider group of retailers to its events.
“The duty-free/travel retail industry has changed hugely since the Consortium Club concept was originally conceived in the late 60s – at that time, our members included Worth Perfumes, Beechams, Whitbread, General Foods and Martini Rossi, while customers ranged from Fenton Hill and Trust Houses Forte to Dan Air, Laker and Caledonian to Sealink and Hoverlloyd,” said TRC PR and Communications Executive Rebecca Harwood Lincoln.
“Over the years, consolidation and takeovers have not only changed the profile of the membership but also of the industry and during that time the work of the Consortium has, perhaps, become a little less focussed and less well known. We’re now committed to changing that with a new emphasis on membership strategies, which include looking at our annual event to ensure it creates the most attractive social opportunity for both members and retailers.
“One element is that in the past we have concentrated primarily on retailers operating within the UK but are now looking to possible expand that focus, initially to include buyers from airlines, airport shops and ferries/cruise ships from throughout Europe.
“Communication of our activities is seen as a vital tool here and, to that end, we will be launching a TRC website very soon, along with a new updated logo. We have also appointed Essential Communications to assist us in promoting our activities through the trade media,” she added.
About the Travel Retail Consortium
The Travel Retail Consortium (TRC) was originally conceived in the late 1960s and formalised in 1971 to further the interests and development of the travel retail industry within the UK through its member companies. Its objectives are to raise standards of business within the travel retail industry; promote members’ products and services; discuss industry issues; and provide social and networking opportunities for key travel retail customers at annual events. The TRC is also active in raising funds for charity with particular focus on The Smile Train.
Meetings are held bi-monthly at members’ or customer company locations covering industry issues, new operators/services, business opportunities, etc. Confidential matters such as margins and terms are not discussed, TRC stresses.
A fun customer event is held annually and has included dragon boat racing, “˜It’s a Knockout’, School Sport Day and Newbury Race Day. This is followed by a black tie evening event. Consortium custom is that bacon rolls and coffee served for those still around at 1am.
Current TRC members include Accolade Wines; Boddingtons Bitter; Coty Prestige; Guinness; Imperial Tobacco International; Mars; Paramount Imagination; Polaroid Eyewear; Remy Cointreau; Retail in Motion; Royal Grolsch International; Russ Berrie; Taittinger Champagne; TRT Limited; and Twinings.
For enquiries on membership, contact:
Secretary: Mike Stephenson – Tel: +44 2082759400 or e-mail: mike.stephenson@paramountimagination.co.uk
Secretary: Tina Davies – Tel: +44 7889 885 135 or e-mail: Tina.davies@uk.imptob.com
Chairman: Jan Kristiansen Binder – Tel: +44 1233 656242 or e-mail: jan_kristiansen-binder@cotyinc.com
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