Cross-category placement and digital key to growth, says Mondelez

Mondelez World Travel Retail (WTR) has highlighted the importance of cross-category product placement and the role of digital in increasing sales in the channel.

Last week The Moodie Davitt Report and other travel retail press took part in an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of Cadbury’s Research & Development centre in Bournville, Birmingham. There, Mondelez World Travel Retail Head Category Development Piotr Pilui shared insights into the company’s latest research and findings.

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Home is where the chocolate is: Cadbury employs over 3,000 people globally in Research & Development

“We believe that our role is to leverage the power of chocolate,” said Pilui. “We are consistently pursuing our category vision of Delighting Travelers. Chocolate has the power to make people go into duty free stores if it’s visible from the outside and gives retailers the opportunity to increase basket size and spend.”

Pilui revealed that Mondelez WTR recently partnered with German company 4Dshopper to create a virtual reality duty free store to test the impact of cross-category placement on sales. Over 2,400 shoppers from Britain, India, America and China took part in the test which enabled Mondelez to watch, understand and analyse their behaviour.

Four different confectionery products: Toblerone Tiny Mixed Bags, Toblerone bars, Ferrero Rocher and Lindt Napolitains were placed in perfume & cosmetics and liquor areas of the store, resulting in ‘encouraging’ incremental revenue.

Toblerone Tiny and Lindt Napolitains drove incremental revenue of +9% for confectionery and +7% for perfume & cosmetics across the total store. Similar results were reported for liquor, with Toblerone bars contributing most to the incremental revenue.

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Virtual reality store: cross-category placement provided ‘encouraging’ results

Pilui said: “We presented the cross-category idea to retailers during TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes and received excellent feedback. Through this we can leverage the power of confectionery to help other categories grow. By placing top-selling confectionery lines in beauty and liquor store areas we create a buzz and interest from shoppers, and give them shopping convenience.”

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Pilui also shared information on a new digital marketing endeavour that Mondelez is currently testing for travel retail.

Proximity marketing works by targeting travellers at airports with iBeacon technology. The technology sends a message to people’s smartphones, which are connected to the airport WiFi, once they are within a certain distance from the duty free store. Messages could include promotional offers, new products or competitions to attract customers into the store. No app or technical support is required to receive the messages.

The proximity marketing concept is already being used in Mondelez’s German domestic market and has had promising results.

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Pilui noted that confectionery has the highest conversion rate of all categories in travel retail. 52% of travellers visit the category and 39% actually make a purchase. For Mondelez WTR, biscuit sales are growing in double-digits and this area will be a focus going forwards, Pilui revealed.

Pilui also stressed the importance of confectionery items near cash tills in travel retail. “Confectionery plays a critical role in impulse purchases near cash tills and we will be working on special assortments and smaller items for this area.”

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Mondelez WTR Senior Brand Manager Cadbury, Biscuits, Gum & Candy Richard Houseago and Head Category Development Piotr Pilui get taste buds tingling with their chocolate creation
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Mondelez International colleagues and travel retail press hit the sweet spot with their chocolate bar creations
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