Left: Fida Bou Chabke, CEO GTR, with TRBusiness Editorial Director Faye Bartle in Cannes. Right: Rémy Martin VSOP This is my City Dubai edition.

With the recently released Dubai edition in the VSOP This is my City range, the first chapter of a new traveller’s exclusive Black Art series launching in November, and plenty more besides, Rémy Cointreau Global Travel Retail (GTR) is amplifying its plans to ‘wow’ shoppers and co-create value with retail partners in the channel. 

In the face of a challenging trading climate, Rémy Cointreau is amping up its GTR strategy with a clear plan to give travelling shoppers a heightened retail experience that also delivers a solid return on investment (ROI) for the company and its partners.

“For our consumers, we really want to always surprise them with innovations, limited editions and new experiences with great activations,” Fida Bou Chabke, CEO GTR, told TRBusiness when we sat down with her during the 2025 TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes. “And for our partners, the retailers, we really want to partner to co-create value, leveraging our portfolio of exceptional brands.”

Following the tricentenary of Rémy Martin in 2024, which was marked with a series of special activities on the theme of ‘We Dream Forward’ at major GTR locations around the world, cognac remains a priority for the company in terms of development and investment.

Rémy Martin XO Cognac Limited Edition Reach For The Stars.

More broadly speaking, in terms of delivering retail experiences in the channel for spirits, Bou Chabke said the division is now going ‘one level further’ with customisation, gifting, elevated visual merchandising and the ways in which all of this is executed in-store.

She points to the exclusive Rémy Martin XO x Anish Kapoor limited edition, which launched earlier this year complete with an exclusive artwork by the British sculptor, as case in point.

“We played in multiple locations and of course, at the beginning of 2026 we have the celebration of the [Chinese zodiac] Year of the Horse. The emblem of Rémy Martin is the centaur so it’s going to be a big celebration for us.”

In the limited edition VSOP This is my City range, the company has just debuted the Dubai edition and a new activation concept for the range is in the works to ‘keep up momentum’.

In whiskies there is big news too, with a full range of traveller exclusives led by the launch of the Bruichladdich The Classic Laddie Sherry Cask Edition, a GTR exclusive, followed by the launch of the 21-Year-Old and the 16-Year-Old Organic Barley – again, all supported by new activations and visibility in key airports.

“The peated range too, which was brought back to GTR with the full editions, is also driving a lot of excitement with consumers,” added Bou Chabke. “Big news for the upcoming year is going to be the launch of a new Black Art series. It’s an enigmatic whisky that’s all about trust as you won’t know the age of the cask and so on that goes into the blend. It’s going to be in three chapters becoming a traveller’s exclusive, which is the most exciting part of the news.”

The launch for the first chapter of this is pegged for November 2025.

Left: Bruichladdich Distillery’s Black Art series is guided by Head Distiller Adam Hannett who has been granted complete creative freedom. Right: Metaxa is an amber spirit from Samos, made with Samos Muscat wines, aged wine distillates, and Mediterranean botanicals.

Elsewhere in the portfolio, The Botanist gin is showcasing its new visual merchandising guidelines (blue and orange). Plus, for Cointreau, the City editions have launched with 360-degree activations in high-impact locations from Sydney to London, Paris and Dubai.

“We activated that in six cities this year and are going to continue to do so in 2026,” she revealed.

Quality rules

When it comes to consumption trends, Bou Chabke sees a couple of major shifts on the radar: the trend for ‘drinking better’ (exceptional liquids and the like) and the growing demand for brands that are responsible and purpose driven – which is where the whiskies from Islay, The Botanist, as well as Westland Distillery come in, which are all B Corps.

“We’ve launched organic products as well and in the Group overall, we are very ambitious on corporate and social responsibility. All of our bottles have transitioned to lighter weights, for example. For Champagne Telmont, we are also launching the organic rosé this year in travel retail, following the organic brut. So we have those initiatives that are resonating with consumers.”

An interactive display by The Botanist, featuring a variety of shopper engagement tools.

Building lower ABV cocktails and ready-to-drink options (RTDs) into the range gives shoppers the luxury of choice.

“We have an RTD range for Cointreau and another one for Metaxa. This year already we launched the Metaxa 7 Stars Greek Riviera Limited Edition at Greek airports. It’s still going to be a smaller growth engine for us and our retailers, but we do see interest and I think the range is now ready to list with other airlines and retailers [outside of Greece – Ed].”

MEA insights

Looking at MEA, Bou Chabke highlighted that Rémy Cointreau is experiencing double-digit growth in GTR in the region.

“Traffic is doing well overall and for our portfolio, because we have multiple pax profiles that transit through this region, I think it’s one where you can see diversity in the offer. That plays well for a lot of the brands in our portfolio,” she said.

“We will, for sure, be launching activations for the Bruichladdich 16-Year-Old Organic Barley and the new Black Art series,” she confirmed.

The company has three team members located in Dubai who help to maintain close relationships with its retail partners in the region.

Looking to the future, Bou Chabke believes it’s important to get back to basics in order to move forward.

“The right visibility, the right assortment that’s tailored to the pax that are going through a specific door, with people on the ground – these are things that are always important – as is pricing. A big part of that is retailer’s responsibility but it’s important as well to always make sure that prices are in line with our strategy – and also the promise to the consumer that there are savings in travel retail.”

Réserve de la Terre Rosé – an extra brut, organic Telmont champagne.

Circling back to Bou Chabke’s earlier point about being a partner that co-creates value in the channel is important here – not only from a revenue perspective but also in terms of audience engagement.

“It’s them that we need to ‘wow’ and convert,” she said. “And for that there’s still going to be a lot of innovation coming in, every year. We will work on beautiful editions, innovations – whether in liquid or packaging gifting and so on. For the past year, everything that we did was in that mindset, to really come up with executions and activations that really embed unique experiences and storytelling but also in a meaningful way for consumers. Not something gimmicky. Something where they learn, enjoy, or are surprised when they see something different and new. We are trying to be as 360 as possible and working with the retailers to leverage their database and align with their strategies.”

Zooming out to assess the WB&S category as a whole and the outlook for the future, she commented: “I think the category itself… everyone is going into more creativity and different offers. When there is investment in the category it’s good for everyone as it means the category is going to be more dynamic. If we all keep innovating, whether in products or experiences – and the retailers as well as changing things, reviewing the concepts – that can only create conversion at the end of the day.”

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