The Mars Wrigley International Travel Retail take home from Cannes is: “By launching M&Ms Salted Caramel Limited Edition we can…
The Mars Wrigley International Travel Retail take home from Cannes is: “By launching M&Ms Salted Caramel Limited Edition we can unlock great category growth.”
Talking to the travel retail press in the Bay Village yesterday morning Raghav Rekhi, Sales Director ITR, and Roel Govers, Corporate Affairs Director, explained both the overall Mars Wrigley CSR strategy, before going into detail for the forecast outlook and growth plans in travel retail in 2022 with the “objective to be #1 contributor in driving category growth.”
First of all, there was there was Mars Wrigley International Travel Retail’s prediction: Passenger volumes would recover back to 2019 levels by end-2023. Meanwhile, Rekhi said some interesting interim travel retail trends had emerged in that those who are travelling are tending to spend more – “but that is expected to normalise, therefore we have to continue to focus on higher levels of conversion, after all 48% of travellers still do not enter the duty free store.” So, while Mars Wrigley International Travel Retail would keep a tight concentration on impulse purchase there would also be strategies to address increased “planned purchases.”
The dynamics of the category are 50% is sharing and snacking and 40% gifting. This was supported by a product base with significant growth and representation of bite size products with important growth driven by limited editions and flavour variants. For instance, the launch of M&Ms salted caramel had achieved a dramatic 42% category growth.
Asserting that M&Ms is the “#1 brand to attract and convert with fun” besides the product development outlined, Rekhi said efforts would be concentrated in driving higher growth “with immersive and experiential displays to enter the consciousness of millennials and Gen-Z – these would feature both omnichannel and omniplatform innovations.”
Against this background, Mars Wrigley was making serious CSR moves based on three fundamental pillars, which Govers explained:
- More responsible products – all cocoa responsibly sourced and traceable by 2025.
- More responsible packaging – 100% recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025.
- More responsible display – less shipments, more localisation of supply in travel retail.
Bay Village Bay 9
