Tito’s Handmade Vodka to introduce eight-bottle range in Cannes

Fifth Generation, owner of Tito’s Handmade Vodka, is premiering a new range of bottle formats for the brand at TFWA Cannes 2018 (Blue Village, H17) in a bid to increase visibility.

This follows the US company’s introduction of Tito’s 1.75L and 200ml bottles in the Asia Pacific region earlier this year where, according to an in-store study conducted by the Tito’s global travel retail team, sales grew significantly in locations where facings were increased.

An eight-bottle range of the original Texan craft vodka is now being introduced to customers worldwide and will be on show in Cannes.

The new Tito’s Handmade Vodka eight-bottle line-up was created to add variety to a range that includes only one recipe. The more sizes, the more space on shelf.

Tito’s Managing Director International, John McDonnell said: “Our philosophy is to do one thing and do it well, so there will only ever be one Tito’s Handmade Vodka. However demand outpaces shelf stock and so to avoid out of stocks and increase visibility it’s vital that Tito’s has more space.

“We therefore look forward to launching the new bottle formats and as operators discontinue products that are not selling, we hope that they will give that space to craft brands such as Tito’s.”

This follows a year of strong growth for Tito’s in global travel retail. It struck an agreement with Dufry in the summer to make Tito’s available across all five of the travel retail operator’s divisions. This included new airport store locations such as London Heathrow and London Gatwick, Stockholm, Helsinki, Madrid, Lisbon, Athens, Zurich and Jordan. This will be supported with sampling and activations in-store in the coming months.

“Our philosophy is to do one thing and do it well.”

In March Tito’s launched in Africa, where it is partnering with Flemingo International at its stores in Mozambique, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia, Burundi and Ghana.

This followed gains in Latin America and Asia Pacific, including Guam and South Korea airports, Thailand and Malaysia border shops, Heinemann stores in Australia and Malaysia and Lagardère locations in Hong Kong and New Zealand.

India is also becoming an important market for Tito’s, with distribution across all key airports.

On Tito’s future strategy, McDonnell said: “Our clear aim in travel retail is continued growth, so TFWA Cannes is extremely important, enabling us to talk to both existing and potential customers about their operations and how we collaborate so that we all benefit from the opportunity that Tito’s presents.

“Our exciting plans will elevate Tito’s presence in-store and include the extensive new bottle range and our non-traditional promotional gift packs, which will drive trial while rewarding loyal fans with more opportunities to purchase. This is a great chance for operators to capitalise on the American craft spirits trend.”

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