Mars Wrigley International Travel Retail (ITR) will communicate its ‘moment-led strategy’ to convert more confectionery visitors into buyers while sharing its expanded product portfolio at this year’s TFWA World Exhibition (1-5 October).

The next chapter of the company’s plan to generate confectionery category growth involves a greater focus on satisfying shoppers’ needs on the store floor through execution that engages them at relevant touchpoints, says Mars ITR.

“Last year we made the shift to a moment-led strategy putting customer and shopper needs at the heart of our thinking,” explained Marcus Hudson, Sales Director, Mars Wrigley ITR, who says the relevance of the move has been informed by changing behaviours.

Drawing on m1nd-set research, Hudson says that despite confectionery possessing the highest conversion rate of any category, a mere one in five travellers visit confectionery aisles in duty free.

Building incremental sales

“We need to confront and inspire travellers in the right way, create more excitement to bring travellers into the category and inspire better moments to convert shoppers into buyers,” said Hudson.

“I am looking forward to engaging with our customers in Cannes on how our brands can make that happen for the category.”

Mars ITR says opportunities to unlock incremental sales within transaction zones – something it has been optimising in collaboration with its domestic market partners for decades – will be brought to life during the TFWA World Exhibition.

“The transaction zone has a huge potential,” continued Hudson. “Around 500 million travellers buy products in travel retail every year, this means 500 million opportunities at the check-out area for incremental purchases. We need to better satisfy the traveller’s impulse needs in this area, and here confectionery can play a much bigger role.

“We know what works, how to optimise space and value, not only for confectionery but for all relevant categories at the transaction zone. We want to share this knowledge with our ITR partners so we can tap into the potential of this area together.”

Elsewhere, Mars Wrigley ITR will launch a new range of products while building on its current portfolio to better meet travellers’ needs across defined key moments: ‘Enjoy travel time together’, ‘Give a gift’, ‘Refresh & energise on the go’, and ‘Unwind & indulge’.

The company will also share more on its approach to responsibly sourced cocoa and the introduction of its 100% Responsibly Sourced Cocoa logo within travel retail.

As reported, all the cocoa Mars Wrigley buys for its factories in Europe has been verified as Responsibly Sourced, effective this year.

“Next year we will take the next step in engaging travellers on this important milestone as our 100% Responsibly Sourced logo will appear on packs of products made in our European factories,” added Hudson.

“I am looking forward to sharing more with our customers about our Responsibly Sourced Cocoa programme through which we aim to deliver real, lasting positive change across the supply chain for future generations.”

MWITR can be found at Bay Village 41.

READ MORE: Mars ITR eyes growth above +20% in 2023 as category vision ramps up

READ MORE: How we are… on track to reach 100% responsibly sourced cocoa globally by 2025