Andreas Fehr: “Our partners take our brands to the consumers and are critical to our success in travel retail. One of the core strategies of Mondelez International is ‘Powerful Customer Partnerships’ – this means adding value to their businesses through consultation and investment.”
Andreas Fehr, Managing Director, Mondelez World Travel Retail
“For us, our leadership position is not a given, but something we need to fight for every day,” Mondelez World Travel Retail’s Andreas Fehr said. The head of one of the industry’s leading companies, which counts globally renowned brands like Toblerone, Cadbury, Oreo and Milka among its diverse portfolio, is reflecting not just on the intense competition that faces brands within the confectionery category, but also on the battle to get the recognition deserved in travel retail.
Fehr joined Mondelez WTR 20 years ago when the travel retail division of Kraft Jacobs Suchard was formed, and rose to the helm of what was to become a formidable single entity in 1998, just months before the abolition of intra EU duty free in 1999. As he steered the company through these tumultuous waters, Fehr learned the importance of delivering a spectacular retail experience for the customer. And now, years later, Fehr is pioneering again with the Mondelez WTR mission to “make every traveller’s journey delicious”, and position its much-loved products in every single store in the channel.
“Mondelez WTR’s grand design for obtaining great retail space is to combine the strongest portfolio in confectionery with our cutting-edge shopper insights platform. This allows us to consult retailers on how best to grow the overall category, and not just sales of our own products,” Fehr explained. It is through this approach that Mondelez WTR aims to take on the mantle of ‘Category Captain’, in a development plan centred on opportunities to boost the entire confectionery sector. “Typically confectionery is under-represented in airports compared with others such as liquor and cosmetics.”
This under-representation is surprising given the revenue confectionery generates in the space it currently occupies. With more room, confectionery brands could deliver an even richer experience and offer even greater engagement with travellers. “I firmly believe that each category has its role to play – whether it generates a carefully planned purchase or an impulse one. As the leading confectionery supplier in travel retail, Mondelez WTR sees its’ role to lead the way in raising awareness of the retailers and airport operators in the first place.”
Mondelez WTR believes it can grow the travel retail confectionery market by $3 billion over the next three years, merely by enabling retailers to adopt new store concepts and practices. Fehr’s strategy for this multi-billion dollar growth of the sector is to raise the retailers’ awareness of how such a universal, appealing and affordable category can overcome the industry’s biggest obstacles. “Effectively travel retail faces three challenges in trying to maximise sales – not enough travellers go into the shops, they do not spend enough when they get in there, and do not plan to shop every time they travel. It is our belief – backed up by our research and shopper insights – that confectionery can help airport retailers tackle all three challenges.”
