Lindt & Sprüngli Global Travel Retail on growing the Confectionery category

October 23 2024 | Confectionery & Fine Foods

By GTR Magazine Editor

The Lindt & Sprüngli Global Travel Retail team at this year's TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes

Leading premium confectionery brand Lindt & Sprüngli Global Travel Retail (GTR) used the travel retail industry’s premier event – TFWA Conference & Exhibition – to preview some of its key launches and focus areas as it looks to build on a record-breaking 2024.

Shaped by the growth drivers identified in its category vision, Lindt GTR’s strategy leverages its portfolio of iconic brands and confectionery’s high penetration and conversion rates to grow the category through a number of key initiatives.

Sense of Place is a major focus for 2025 as Lindt GTR looks to capitalize on souvenir gifting, a key driver of higher willingness to spend amongst travel retail shoppers.

Sense of Place to the fore for 2025

A new range of location specific sleeves which can be applied across bestsellers LINDOR, Napolitains, Swiss Masterpieces and Lindt Gold and Silver Tablets, provides a simple yet premium way for retailers to inject sense of place into their confectionery offer and transform Lindt’s iconic products into souvenir gifts. A full range of options for key countries and cities, featuring local landmarks and cultural icons, maximizes relevance and will help drive widespread rollout.

With ‘Taste Discoveries’ as one of the key growth pillars of its category vision, Lindt is making good on the opportunity around flavor innovation with limited edition Salted Caramel variations of LINDOR and Napolitains. LINDOR Tube 387g and Napolitains Carrier Box with Salted Caramel 500g are two travel retail exclusive SKUs tapping into the broad appeal of Salted Caramel across nationalities, notably Indian, British, American, Saudi Arabian, German and Spanish shoppers.

In line with its ‘Be Seen’ growth pillar, Lindt GTR also shared details with partners of its most ambitious visibility program to date. With a mixture of year-round universal HPP and POS concepts as well as a number of seasonal platforms focused on holiday gifting, Lindt will be investing heavily to drive engagement and deliver standout executions within the confectionery category. While primarily focused on the iconic LINDOR range, including various seasonal exclusive formats, Lindt also unveiled a playful ‘Spin & Win’ concept for travel retail’s #1 product in confectionery, Napolitains Carrier Box, and engagement mechanics for Captain Cocoa & Captain Skyla.

Lindt features in a high profile display at Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur International Airport

A raft of format innovations focused on growing basket size and catering to demand moments across sharing and self-consumption were also unveiled. Multipacks of Lindt Gold & Silver (3 x 300g), Lindt Excellence (4 x 100g) and Lindt Swiss Classic (5 x 100g) provide a number of appealing options in the Recharge pillar.

Driving incrementality through grab-and-go cash till purchases are two new bite-size options, among the top three formats for on-the-go consumption: LINDOR Trio Pack 37g and Nocciolatte Milk 35g. Both products tap into the opportunity around self-consumption, which at 33% represents confectionery’s biggest value growth pillar.

Peter Zehnder, Head of Lindt & Sprüngli Global Travel Retail, commented, “Powered by a laser-focus on our key growth pillars, I’m confident that TFWA Conference & Exhibition saw us deliver a clear roadmap for growth in 2025 and present a wealth of investments and innovations that will help our retail partners capitalize on the premium confectionery opportunity. Our strategy is to leverage our iconic brands to drive visibility for confectionery and tap into chocolate’s universal appeal to meet the need states of shoppers looking to snack, gift and share. Together with our partners we are fully committed to making this a reality and elevating the confectionery experience in travel retail.”