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For alcohol brand owners, negotiating with buyers – particularly in as space-limited a sales channel as global travel retail – can be daunting. Here are the key topics they should be talking about.
As brand owners draw up their schedule of industry exhibitions to attend in 2024, I’ve pulled together some of the most important areas they need to ensure they cover off in their discussions with prospective customers in global travel retail. These will complement and support them in their meetings about on new product launches and marketing initiatives.
The first thing brand owners need to be clear on and communicate is their travel retail strategy. It sounds simple and obvious, but in my experience is something that many brands neglect; they instead jump straight to selling mode. It’s important for all stakeholders to know what results the brand would like to achieve, the role GTR plays for it and what the plan is to achieve these objectives. This should be something that’s communicated clearly and simply without the need for a large number of slides.
Equally, it’s important for brand owners to understand the retailer’s strategy, in order to make sure there are common objectives between the two.
Who the brand is targeting in global travel retail – and what the targeted buying occasions are – also need to be communicated. It’s vital to let retail operators know the key nationalities the brand is targeting, along with their shopper profiles. Retailers also need to understand what buying needs the brand meets. For example, does the brand appeal to a consumer looking for a gift, to treat themselves or to fill their home bars at a good price? Also, is the target consumer a traveller on business, to a holiday destination or taking a short trip for, say, a city break?
Two key areas that retailers will want to find out from brand owners will be about their sustainability and digital communication plans. Given that travel is a significant contributor to CO2 emissions, brand owners need to have plans to offset this with sustainability initiatives. This shouldn’t just be about the way the product is made and what packaging material is used, but also about how the brand is executed in-store. For example, are displays made with reusable or recyclable material and what happens to promotion displays after they have been used for in-store promotions (sometimes only for short periods)?
Digital communication is also a hot topic and one that retailers will want to hear about from brand owners. Of particular interest will be how brands plan to engage with travellers at different points in their journey (pre-, during and post-trip). Brand owners will also want to understand more about the digital plans of retailers and airport authorities, so that they can make sure their plans are in sync.
Digital already plays a sizable role in encouraging travellers to enter a store, through pre-travel communication. However, digital communication and engagement opportunities shouldn’t be confined to pre- and post-travel; in-store activity is key . Brand owners should think about how they can include digital elements into their displays and promotion activities.
Data and insights is another important topic. Data sharing between brand owners and retailers has the potential to reveal insights that could unlock substantial growth in global travel retail. The sharing of sales data from domestic markets is incredibly useful for retailers to know. Also, sales analysis with details of successful locations and time periods can reveal valuable insights. Brand owners should also share evaluations of the promotions they’ve previously undertaken to show the results that have been achieved versus objectives, in order to improve results in the future.
Consumer and shopper insights is another important area for retailers to be aware of. This could include any insights the brand owner has gleaned from domestic markets or research they’ve commissioned in GTR. Hopefully, retailers will be prepared to enable data-based decision-making by sharing information with brand owners, such as which key destinations purchasers of a brand are flying to, as well as their own shopper research.
My final recommendation is to communicate how they plan to deliver incremental value to their own and the retailer’s business. If a brand owner is launching a new product, for example, they need to demonstrate what impact it will have on overall category sales and that it will help grow the size of the value pie. Evidence can be drawn from domestic performance as well as from experiences with other retailers.
Brand owners need to demonstrate that there’s a strong need from shoppers for the product and that it will enhance their overall shopping experience. Be assured, retail operators will have this at the top of their agendas.
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