Mondelez World Travel Retail (WTR) will focus heavily on strengthening its core digital capabilities in 2018 in order to better connect with the new generation of travellers.
Mondelez WTR Head of Category Planning Ivo Knuesel said: “The digital revolution has profoundly changed the way travellers behave and shop – the days of a captive audience are over. Today’s travellers – regardless of whether they are Baby Boomers, Generation X or Millennials – spend a significant amount of time online at the airport, particularly on social media.
“The duty free offer no longer commands a monopoly of attention, and it takes a lot more than price and product assortment to engage these hyperconnected jetsetters – it requires a whole new approach.”
The next-generation – or ‘Next Gen’ – travellers are characterised by their mobile connectivity, tech-savviness, frequent travel and by their desire for bespoke experiences and sharable moments, said Mondelez WTR.
“The Next-Gen traveller is looking for authentic brand experiences; and when it comes to shopping, they want to bring home something original, exclusive and personalised,” noted Knuesel. “To connect with them, we must adopt a holistic strategy that combines an emotionally compelling product offer with targeted engagement on digital platforms at various stages of the travel journey, from planning the trip and travelling to the airport, through dwell time and departure to post-travel.”
With this in mind, Mondelez WTR will introduce its digital strategy and refreshed category vision at the TFWA World Exhibition (Riviera Village RG5), built on three key pillars:
- E-commerce – Convert online users into in-store shoppers/visitors, and further converting them into buyers (More Shoppers)
- Social Media – Raise traveller awareness of duty free shopping and confectionery offers, and encourage store footfall (More Shoppers, More Spend)
- Digital Engagement – Trigger conversion and repeated purchases through effective activations at the point-of-sale (More Spend, More Often)
Knuesel commented: “By activating these three digital platforms along the travel journey, we can connect travellers with our leading brands such as Toblerone, Cadbury, Mika and Oreo in a modern and meaningful way, strengthening the emotional link and adding a new dimension to the shopper relationship. At the same time, we can leverage digital platforms to boost awareness, footfall and conversion, effectively tackling key industry challenges and delivering on our ‘Delighting Travelers’ category vision.”
“Our ambition is to be recognised as a digital innovation leader in the travel retail industry, and win over the Next-Gen travellers through continued innovation and closer collaboration with our retailer partners.”
Mondelez WTR’s ‘Delighting Travelers’ category vision was first unveiled at the 2012 TFWA World Exhibition. It is based on the belief that confectionery has the power to address key travel retail challenges of low footfall and conversion, and unlock growth on both the category and industry level. This framework is driven by in-depth shopper insights and is centered on driving behavioural changes in shoppers that would deliver against three key aims: More Shoppers, More Spend, More Often.
Knuesel said: “Our category vision and its guiding principles form the foundation of Mondelez WTR’s leadership in travel retail, and will continue to be instrumental to our business as we adopt new and digital ways of working. In line with this evolution of our strategy, we will be stepping up our investments in dedicated resources to boost our digital capabilities.
“We have a solid plan in place and are investing in new platforms, new hardware and new ways of communications. Our ambition is to be recognised as a digital innovation leader in the travel retail industry, and win over the Next-Gen travellers through continued innovation and closer collaboration with our retailer partners.”
