Hannes Koch joins FRAAS – The Scarf Company

FRAAS – The Scarf Company is delighted to announce that Hannes Koch from Travel Retail Cooperation will be joining its team as a consultant. Hannes Koch has vast experience in the Travel Retail channel having worked for numerous businesses including Heinemann, L’Oreal and NIVEA, before founding Travel Retail Cooperation.

Koch will be bringing his expertise in Global Travel Retail, local market strategies and sales execution to the textile and accessories company with the aim to help expand its distribution throughout the key regions.

Andreas Schmidt, Managing Director, FRAAS, comments “We are happy to announce that Hannes Koch from Travel Retail Cooperation will be joining us a consultant and fully support FRAAS in executing and adjusting our Global Travel Retail strategy. His experience and network gathered from years working at one of the major TR operators, on brand side and in his own business will be highly beneficial for an accelerated development of FRAAS in GTR.”

Hannes Koch, comments “I am convinced that the FRAAS approach for GTR is a great fit to the channel and will bring scarves to a different level, benefiting from 135 years of textile craftsmanship as a true manufacturer brand. It offers landlords and operators a fantastic brand concept which includes great POS tools and fully considers different passenger profiles, seasonalities and the specific needs of the GTR channels and regions. I am happy to contribute to the success of FRAAS and take part in this exciting journey!”

Hannes Koch and Andreas Schmidt will be available to discuss FRAAS- The Scarf Company at TFWA World Exhibition (Red Village, K29).

Aurora World and P&O Ferries collaborate once again onboard the Pride of Canterbury

For the third summer in succession the P & O Ferries / Aurora World pop-up shop collaboration has proved a huge success, the ship featured was “The Pride of Canterbury.”

P & O Buyer, Catherine Gaskin, said “Our pop-up shop programme offers our customers an enhanced shopping experience which includes instore theatre such as tastings, GWP promotional activity etc. Plus with Aurora we have a life size Yoohoo interacting with passengers – they love it. We also see a significant upturn in sales through higher conversion and average spend, this year we saw an Aurora sales uplift of plus 300%”

Aurora’s Travel Retail Sales Manager, Garry Stoner, commented: “Our instore Yoohoo promotional activity has always been popular with our retail partners and this year we have seen a record number of events across all channels. The goal is to help our partners convert more passengers into customers. Yoohoo is such a popular concept and we continue to substantial growth; it was great to see first-hand this promotional activity working so well with P & O Ferries”

Ricola returns to Cannes with travel retail exclusives

Ricola, the Swiss Herb confectionery specialist, will have its new travel retail exclusive products available to see on its stand at the upcoming TFWA World Exhibition & Conference (Mediterranean Village, N9.)

In pocket size packaging, perfect for impulse buy purchase and offering excellent retail margins, the final new product concepts are:

1.     A checkout item for individual consumption consisting of  75g tin boxes in three different designs, unwrapped, containing 2.5g sugar-free herb drops in three flavours: Original Herb, Lemon Mint, and Cranberry.

2.     A shelf item for individual consumption comprising of a 125g bag, wrapped, containing 3.6g sugar-free herb drops in a mixed doypack, three flavours: Original Herb, Lemon Mint, and Eucalyptus.

The decision to create new travel retail exclusive products came after research was carried out by mind-set in Frankfurt and Hong Kong airports. The research looked at key drivers of candy sales, the perception of Ricola as a brand and the perceived benefits of its herb drop range and showed that at both airports the majority of candy purchases were for self with mouth refreshment and/or breath freshening a key driver.

 “Common findings for both airports are the requirement for great taste and a self-treat of course,” says Andreas Reckart, Head of Travel Retail and Middle East at Ricola. “Other factors include soothing a sore throat, relieving hoarseness, cough or cold, the need for a natural/healthy alternative, and sugar free products.”

Ricola’s aim is to position itself as a truly global yet unique brand in the global travel retail business, with distribution through the top ten retailers globally. The new range will be supported with strong branding, merchandising and promotion to secure personalised space in the top ten international airports. Europe is currently the region where Ricola is best known and most successful, but the company is now shifting its attention to focus on further developing its travel retail and domestic business outside of its European stronghold.

“We are thrilled to be exhibiting again this year, especially since our new products are finally ready to be seen and experienced by buyers,” continues Reckart. “The last TFWA trade shows we attended were very insightful and rewarding, but we didn’t actually have our new products to show; now we do, and it’s time for our travel retail business to really start skyrocketing.”