Mondelez World Travel Retail Managing Director Jaya Singh has said that the leading brand owner is focused on leading the recovery of the channel through growth in the confectionery category. The company is a Gold Partner of the inaugural Moodie Davitt Virtual Travel Retail Expo.
“We are looking forward to sharing our response to latest insights and experience from domestic markets that tell us that, as international travel resumes, travellers will be looking for brands they love, products they know and value they appreciate,” Singh said.
He highlighted the role of confectionery as an “impulse-driven category with a universal appeal and high potential to trigger cross-category purchases”.
“These attributes make our category perfectly placed to accelerate the recovery of travel retail. Effective signposting of confectionery and enhanced visibility from outside of store will drive key metrics such as footfall and conversion.”
Singh believes that rebuilding trust is an important element in the recovery process. He also believes that Toblerone, as travel retail’s number one confectionery brand, is “an ideal candidate to encourage travellers to visit duty free stores”.
 As reported, Mondelez WTR scaled up Toblerone’s successful customisation initiatives earlier this year. The Toblerone sleeve printer, which made its travel retail debut at Istanbul Airport in April 2019, encouraged travelling shoppers to print personal messages onto the chocolatier’s signature gold packaging. It printed almost 7,000 sleeves during an initial three-month promotional period. |
Mondelez WTR rolled out the sleeve printer to 40 locations across Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Middle East.“Our assessment is that gifting will remain the primary motivation for confectionery shopping, especially when people can travel and visit their loved ones again after a long time,” Singh said.
“Uncertainty and instability do not encourage experimentation though; therefore, the product portfolio should be focused around proven best-selling products,” he added.
With this in mind, the packaging of Toblerone’s popular tiny bags has been redesigned to improve distinction and value perception. Singh said consumer tests have proven that it has substantially improved appeal to consumers.
Mondelez will also introduce a bar-bundle range, with an optimised set of flavour mixes and out-of-pocket price.
Singh said Mondelez was responding to the new reality for many travellers by offering products that are more suited for consumers’ demand for higher value perception.
“Cadbury bags and pouches will have a new price-pack architecture following thorough and comprehensive assessment of our offer to the consumer. We believe these changes can further drive the velocity of these products in store,” he said.
While recovery timelines, geographies and patterns remain uncertain, Singh said “that doesn’t mean that we cannot be prepared”.
“Over the 25 years of Mondelez World Travel Retail, we have been investing into our people, brands and insights to build assets that helped us reinforce our position as category leaders, remain resilient and get through crises”
“At Mondelez WTR, we are ready with campaigns and initiatives from our global brands and by our award-wining team to implement with speed and executional excellence to seize any arising opportunities. We are in close and regular contact with our retailers and we are constantly scanning the horizon for opportunities.”
Singh underlined Mondelez’s resilience and ability to cope in difficult times. “Over the 25 years of Mondelez World Travel Retail, we have been investing into our people, brands and insights to build assets that helped us reinforce our position as category leaders, remain resilient and get through crises.
“Our universal assets will also help us succeed on the road to recovery as well as in the ‘new normal’. There are numerous factors to the recovery that we cannot control, but we can control our speed and quality of response to changes when and where they arise.”
“In creating experiences that are unique to our channel, we can further improve value perception to the traveller”
Singh said Mondelez WTR has identified the three key principles that can help accelerate the recovery:
- Focusing on a core portfolio of best-selling products helps leverage supply chain efficiencies and improve product rotation.
- Enhancing the visibility of the confectionery category has the potential to increase footfall to all categories, while applying merchandising best practices help passengers navigate the offer on shelf quickly and effectively.
- Bold offers supported by loud communications are critical in an environment with financial pressures and uncertainties, placing more emphasis on value perception and price sensitivities.
Moving into the ‘new normal’, Singh said Mondelez WTR has maintained its ambition and entrepreneurial spirit to delight travellers through its substantial scope and scale of popular in-store activations.
“In creating experiences that are unique to our channel, we can further improve value perception to the traveller,” he concluded.
