INTERNATIONAL. Nestlé International Travel Retail (NITR) and Dufry have partnered with Nestlé Health Science (NHSc) to deliver a global travel retail first with the trial of health and wellness brand Solgar in Dufry’s new shop-in-shop retail concept, Mind. Body. Soul.
Solgar offers a range of vitamins, minerals, herbals and supplements (VMHS) to travellers. Its travel retail trial is the result of m1nd-set research from 2022 that identified the growth opportunity offered by health and wellness products, appealing to almost 50% travellers across all key demographics.
The six-month trial kicked off on 11 April at Zurich Airport and on 30 April in the Extra-Schengen area at Athens International Airport. These airports feature two of Dufry’s 20 global innovation stores used to test-run new projects.
Consumers are keen to address the impact of travel on health, and VMHS products offer them vital emotional, physical and mental support on leaving the ‘comfort zone’ of familiar surroundings.
Nestlé Global Marketing Manager Aura Sanchez said, “There is compelling evidence that VMHS products can offer huge support and benefits to travellers. These range from supporting immunity and the digestive system when visiting different countries to helping with sleep issues, balancing and boosting energy levels, and maintaining nutritional balance during dietary changes.”
Solgar is considered the ‘gold standard’ of VMHS products and the 75-year-old brand offers more than 300 products in over 60 countries. “Trusted by millions of consumers worldwide, Solgar was the obvious choice for this trial,” said Sanchez.
The initial range has been curated to meet the needs of the travelling consumer as defined by m1nd-set research, and includes products for immunity, energy, sleep and daily wellbeing. The line-up features Solgar’s award-winning multivitamin Formula VM-2000 and its trademarked advanced formula Ester C Plus Immune Complex.
Working in collaboration with Dufry, the merchandising has been designed to highlight differing need states to ease selection for the consumer. A digital product selector tool has been built into the merchandising unit to help travellers make an informed choice based on their needs.
Dufry Global Category Manager – Food Phrederika Miltiadou commented: “Dufry works closely with its brand partners, constantly seeking to implement innovation that meets the changing needs and wants of the global travel retail shopper.
“Our alignment with the Nestlé VERSE model (an acronym for Value, Engagement, Regeneration, Sense of Place and Execution) to drive growth in the wider food category, recruiting new consumers and delighting our existing loyal customers, has allowed us to partner on a number of initiatives beginning with coffee in travel retail last year.
“This year, as part of our aim to deliver a health and wellbeing range, including VMHS, we have benefitted from Nestlé Health Science division’s in-depth category knowledge, which has helped us to deliver a comprehensive range of products that address key traveller need states.
“We are currently trialing this in both our core duty free store in Athens, and our pioneering Mind. Body. Soul. concept at Zurich Airport, and the retail executions by our store teams in both these locations have been exceptional.”
While Solgar is the first brand to be trialled, the Nestlé portfolio includes a range of global wellbeing-oriented brands such as Vital Proteins, Garden of Life and Natures Bounty – all of which offer significant potential for the travel retail channel.
NHSc International Head of VMHS Business Intelligence Andrea Traficante remarked: “Since its foundation in 2011, Nestlé Health Science has always been committed to helping people live their healthiest lives.
“When the opportunity to enter in a new channel partnering with NITR and Dufry arose, we immediately saw that as the perfect addition to our presence. Solgar will be the first of Nestlé Health Science’s VMHS brands to be available to airport passengers in Zurich and Athens. However we are confident that in the future, more of our globally-trusted brands will play a pivotal role in the wellness journey of airport passengers from around the world.”
Sanchez added, “At NITR we are committed to identifying these market opportunities and working with our retail partners to meet travellers’ needs and in so doing, further drive industry growth.
“With leading travel experience player Dufry we have a shared ambition to build the wider food category within travel retail and we have enjoyed developing our partnership further with this VMHS project. We’re incredibly grateful for their support and are confident that this is just the start of a new growth sector for our channel.” ✈
