In this episode of the TRBusiness Adapt & Survive video series, Andrew Carter, Managing Director of Chase Distillery, tells TRBusiness that while the company’s travel retail business is clearly being impacted by Covid-19, its direct-to-consumer online business is ‘flourishing’.

“Our retail sales team are actually very busy as is the team on the farm [based in Herefordshire,UK]. We have furloughed a part of our team, but they will be paid 100% until the end of May.”

Carter says the company is ‘trying to help’ its retailer partners ‘where it can’ in terms of payment terms and cash flow. “It’s a balance for all of us; we’re all trying to manage our own cash flow positions, but we’re also trying to do the right thing, by both our travel retail and on-trade customers that are probably worse hit than us.”

Aside from ensuring the health and wellbeing of its staff as well as delivering crucial online training, at this time, Carter says the brand is preparing for a ‘new normal’ once the Covid-19 crisis passes.

“We’re starting to think about what the world is going to look like on the other side of this,” he said. “I think we’re all clear it’s going to change forever. Whether that’s future ways of promoting our brands, experiential activities at airports, samplings in bars, events. They’re all going to change. We’re going to see a very slow recovery in terms of events and the engagements we have with our consumers. We’re going to have to think about how consumer relationships with brands are going to change from this point forward.”

Adapt and Survive asks members of the travel retail industry community, often working from home, for their candid commentary on the constantly evolving Covid-19 pandemic.

The video series is a direct response to the industry’s critical need for direct, factual and analytical commentary and – in typical TRBusiness fashion – interprets clearly and concisely the challenges faced by travel retail during Covid-19.

To register your interest in the Adapt and Survive series, please contact one of the editorial team at the following addresses: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected].