Confectionery, tea and fine food specialist The East India Company is aiming to capitalise on its trade and exploration roots to further its presence in travel retail.
The brand is exhibiting at this year’s TFWA Asia Pacific Exhibition & Conference (Level 1, R11) for the first time where it will showcase products that highlight its historic connections “through people, places and critical ingredients”.
The East India Company’s travel shopping-exclusive Traveller’s Tales line comprises eight teas inspired by the stories from the company’s historic voyages, selected and crafted by the tea master:
Stamford Raffles Founders Blend honours The East India Company’s officer Sir Stamford Raffles, who founded modern Singapore in 1819
Shogun’s Sakura Sencha is a tribute to the company’s first voyage to Japan in 1613 which started trade between Japan and Britain
Pearl River is a reminder of The East India Company’s first trading post in Canton, China
Fortune’s Treasure is a celebration of Robert Fortune, a company botanist who sent the first tea bushes from China to Darjeeling in India, creating India’s vibrant tea industry.
East India Company’s Mid-Autumn Festival line features chocolate pralines, Moonlit Reflections Tea and Rooibos and Cocoa Herbal Infusion.
Chocolate pralines are filled with hazelnut, pistachios, matcha, pomegranate & grapefruit, lemongrass & ginger and passionfruit and elderflower.
Moonlit Reflections Tea is a blend of caramel flavoured black tea with natural ginger and spice.
The limited-edition Rooibos Cocoa Herbal Infusion is caffeine-free and made from the husks of cocoa beans blended with coconut and rooibos.
The Festive Celebrations collection comprises chocolate pralines, chocolate enrobed ginger biscuits, cinnamon & demerara sugar shortbread, hazelnut and gianduja sandwich biscuits and spiced caramel tea caddy and spiced rooibos tea caddy.
The East India Company recently created a new range of wellness teas and infusions inspired by nature. The collection is said to help to reset, revive and restore inner balance.
The ‘relax’ tea comprises lemongrass, turmeric and ginger; the protect blend features matcha and turmeric; the ‘feel good’ tea comprises gaba oolong and ‘soothe’ includes a barley and mint infusion.
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Commenting on the brand’s debut at TFWA Asia Pacific Exhibition, The East India Company Head of Wholesale Lorraine Jamieson said: “The East India Company is a brand with worldwide resonance and recall, one ideally suited for the luxury travel retail sector.
“Showcasing the brand and presenting selected travel retail products in Asia Pacific is a fundamental step in the delivery of our strategy to engage our customers with products that help them explore, combined with experiences that have the power to amaze, astonish and delight.”
About The East India Company Four hundred years ago, The East India Company was established by pioneering English merchants under royal charter issued by Queen Elizabeth I. The company influenced Britain’s dining tables through the introduction of exotic ingredients and flavours and changed the world’s customs, tastes and ways of thinking. It created new communities, trading places, cities and shaped countries and commercial routes. It minted its own currency, brought tea to India and China, founded Singapore, was a patron of the arts and introduced many spices, textiles, chintz, silks and porcelain among others to the West. |
“Until now the brand’s presence in travel retail has been limited to a highly successful partnership with Harrods at London Heathrow Airport and with Gebr. Heinemann across several European airports,” added Jamieson.
“Success in Heathrow with a shop-in-shop has demonstrated that the brand has strong consumer appeal and our ambition is to find the ideal journey partners to enable us to take the brand global in this sector.”
“Brand experience is paramount to seamless storytelling and we have a wealth of stories to tell” – Lorraine Jamieson
Jamieson continued: “All our products tell a story from every corner of the globe; whether it’s a luxurious chocolate, a delicate biscuit, or an exquisite tea. With our customer base consisting of global citizens of the world – travellers, explorers and adventurers – our products appeal to a diverse range of passengers and are accessible for all, creating a wealth of opportunities for growth.
“Brand experience is paramount to seamless storytelling and we have a wealth of stories to tell. The travel retail sector provides a unique opportunity for brands to create a micro story that can be told via the packaging and the product; a product that can re-create a memory, share the experience of a journey, and connect family and friends. Travel retail is a fundamental step in the omni-channel brand experience and in consumer perception.”
