Constellation Brands will showcase a bundled cross-portfolio of luxury products called “˜Great Estates’ at the TFWA Asia Pacific exhibition next week (stand number: P30).
Launched in spring, Great Estates features premium names in wine such as Inniskillin Icewine, Robert Mondavi Winery, Kim Crawford Wines, and Ruffino. These are supported by striking large-scale displays that “enable us to leverage the in-store “˜real estate’ to have effective visibility, promotions and awareness through interactive education,” said Constellation Brands Global Travel Retail Director Randy Dufour.
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The large-scale Great Estates airport duty free displays “enable us to leverage the in-store “˜real estate’ to have effective visibility, promotions and awareness through interactive education,” says Constellation Brands Global Travel Retail Director Randy Dufour | |
The development of Great Estates underlines the Canadian company’s commitment to the travel retail channel, which was marked by the establishment of a dedicated travel retail division last May.
Dufour explained: “We’ve been successfully placing Inniskillin Icewine in airport duty free shops since 2001. It has grown to be the number one wine by distribution around the world, available in 75 countries. Even so, global travel retail as a channel generally flew under our radar. We now know that with our world-class portfolio, and a growing demand for ultra premium wines, there is an opportunity to grow and expand our business in this demanding, but very exciting channel.”
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The Constellation Brands global travel retail team: (from left) Amanda Dolotowicz, Randy Dufour and Lynette Pratt |
According to Dufour, wine currently represents a small part of this channel, but sales and demand have steadily grown as travellers look for that special gift or a cherished keepsake from their travels. As a result, the top retailers are looking for unique wines to offer their sophisticated clientele.
Determined to fill the gap and lead the industry in this space, Randy and the new global travel retail team – which includes Amanda Dolotowicz and Lynette Pratt – have developed a strategy to bring more of the company’s global brands to this market.
“Constellation Brands has such breadth of global luxury brands in our portfolio that we can assemble a broad-based offering geared to the travelling consumer’s desires and demands,” said incoming SVP – International Philip Kingston.
“We can leverage the distribution power we have with Inniskillin to expand our offerings. We can also be a powerful partner that our distributors look to as a responsive one-stop-shop for their programme and transactional needs,” Kingston added.
The global travel retail team is dedicated to establishing Constellation Brands as the leading wine supplier in airports, on board and in downtown duty free shops. They also work closely with the regional sales teams, who also manage selling their portfolio into cruise lines and ferries.
For more information, e-mail Lynette Pratt at lynette.pratt@cbrands.com.
