Destination: Value – Mondelez WTR’s Big Bet On A Smarter Travel Retail Future
6 minutes read
Introduction by: Peter Marshall
If Mondelez World Travel Retail wanted to shake the industry awake, its recent Destination: Value webinar certainly attracted attention. The virtual launch positioned itself less as a confectionery update and more as a rallying cry for the entire channel – less “sell more chocolate”, more “rethink what value actually means”.
Backed by behavioural science, global research, and strategic insight, the framework aims to redefine value, boost collaboration across the Trinity, and unlock incremental growth opportunities across the travel retail ecosystem.
Yet while inspiring, the session left some partners hungry for specifics: how will these insights translate into tangible actions, category-level strategies, regional tactics, and measurable outcomes?
Along with TRunblocked.com Contributing Editor Colleen Morgan, I put ten key and direct questions to Mondelez World Travel Retail Director Category, Customer & Shopper Marketing, Anna Somogyi, to unpack what Destination: Value actually means in practice.
TRunblocked.com (TRU): Hi Anna and welcome to TRunblocked.com. Let’s start with reach – how many people tuned into the Destination: Value webinar, and from which corners of the travel retail world? Were you surprised by who showed up and the level of engagement?
Anna Somogyi (AS): We had just over 240 viewers joining from across the globe, representing all parts of the travel retail trinity – brand owners, retailers, airport operators, as well as media and agency partners.
We expected broad appeal beyond confectionery, but the level of engagement was genuinely encouraging. The energy and curiosity were great to see, and it’s something we want to build on as we look toward 2026.
TRU: The session felt more like an industry manifesto than a brand presentation. Was that deliberate, and what did you want the audience to walk away thinking or doing differently?
AS: Yes, that was absolutely intentional. Destination: Value is a strategy designed for the full channel, not just confectionery brands. The principles we shared can be applied across categories and taken forward by retailers as well. Our core message was that driving growth requires a collective effort.
We wanted the audience to leave with a mindset shift: while healthy competition will always have its place, there’s also a real opportunity, and need, for collaboration. Collaboration can create more meaningful value for travellers and help move the industry forward.
TRU: You talked about “growing smarter, not harder,” through deeper behavioural understanding, meaningful experiences, and courageous collaboration. What does that mean in practice for retailers and airports who face intense short-term commercial pressures?
AS: When we talk about growing smarter, not harder, we are acknowledging the real commercial pressures that retailers and airports face. This isn’t about doing more for the sake of it. It’s about making smarter choices that are grounded in how travellers actually behave today.
In practice, that means:
- Using behavioural insight to prioritise what really matters. Understanding what motivates travellers helps focus investment where it makes the biggest impact.
- Creating experiences that earn attention, not demand it. Travellers are time-poor and overstimulated. Experiences that feel intuitive, relevant and easy – clearer navigation, stronger storytelling, smoother paths to purchase – deliver compounding commercial impact.
- Collaborating courageously, even when it feels counter cultural. Competition will always exist, but conversion is a shared interest. Sharing insights, trialling formats and aligning on shopper value can unlock growth for all partners.
So, growing smarter isn’t about slowing down. It’s about being more intentional. When decisions centre on the traveller, commercial gains follow.
TRU: Destination: Value clearly builds on Delighting Travellers but aims higher. What’s the single biggest shift between the two, and what lessons from the past decade have shaped this new framework?
The biggest shift is that Destination: Value evolves from focusing solely on confectionery growth to driving total industry growth. It now considers the full travel retail experience, not just the duty-free shop.
Delighting Travellers inspired the industry to unlock the impulse and universal appeal of confectionery. It elevated the category into boardroom discussions and moved it from a hidden, secondary space to a strategically prioritized location within store layouts.
While confectionery remains important, the growth drivers evolve. The former More Often growth driver is now replaced with Drive Consideration, recognising how user-generated content influences decisions. The More Shoppers growth driver is carried forward into Drive Conversion, focusing on holistic purchase drivers and barriers. And, finally, the former More Spend growth driver is now divided into Drive Volume and Drive Value, adding deeper insight into diverse traveller needs and value creation through experience and storytelling.
TRU: Mondelez has gone deep into behavioural science – 7,200 interviews, 32 airports, 12 focus groups. Was there one insight that truly surprised you?
AS: There were many, but one stood out: travellers told us their holiday begins the moment they enter the travel retail environment and continues until they return home.
Many have a full holiday budget and view travel retail spending as part of their overall vacation experience.
This insight may be less relevant for categories that are less emotional and primarily price driven. But, for Toblerone, Cadbury, Milka, Oreo, Freia and Marabou, it means that we must deliver compelling storytelling in stores and add a touch of magic to every vacation moment.
TRU: Richard Shotton highlighted how travellers respond to scarcity, the thrill of reward, and emotional cues rather than pure price. How will those insights show up in-store, and how critical are brand ambassadors in bringing them to life?
AS: Those behavioural insights translate directly into the in-store environment. Scarcity can be signalled more clearly, reward can be framed as a true “treat yourself” moment, and emotional cues strengthened through storytelling and intuitive presentation.
Brand ambassadors are crucial here. They bridge intention and impact by bringing emotion, discovery and reward to life in ways signage alone cannot.
TRU: The framework calls for driving consideration, penetration, volume and value, but how will that actually happen? What mechanisms will ensure the vision translates into scalable, cross-category results rather than isolated best practices?
AS: The four growth drivers play a critical role in making the Destination: Value vision measurable and comparable across airports and channels. We shared ten strategic actions chosen because they apply across categories.
To drive meaningful impact rather than isolated best practices, Mondelez WTR is committed to leading the way. The webinar marked the first step in this journey. We will lead by example, share best practices and track KPI evolution collaboratively with partners.
TRU: You framed Destination: Value as an ecosystem-wide roadmap, but most of the focus was on total channel value. How do you make that meaningful at category level, particularly in chocolate, biscuits and gum, where growth stories are very different?
AS: Destination: Value is an industry-wide roadmap, but its real impact comes from translating it into category-specific actions. Each category has its own growth dynamics, and by applying the broader framework to these unique drivers, we can pinpoint what truly drives consideration, penetration, and conversion. This approach ensures our strategy goes beyond total channel value, delivering tangible, actionable tactics that can be tailored to drive growth where it matters most in each category.
TRU: Your research spanned 32 airports worldwide. What regional differences stood out most, and how will you tailor activation plans for critical markets like China, North America and Europe, where traveller mindsets differ dramatically?
AS: In the upcoming forums we will reveal more nationality, demographic and regional deep dives, but the actions and growth drivers which we highlighted in the Destination: Value industry growth vision are relevant across all of those.
TRU: Collaboration is central to your message, but the industry will be looking for specifics. What forms of joint investment, data sharing, or shared KPIs are you proposing to make Destination: Value more than a vision? And how will you measure tangible progress by 2030?
AS: The vision we shared is grounded in extensive research into what drives value for today’s travelling consumer. Alongside this, we provided a concrete, strategic action framework, that can be applied across categories, as well as by retailers and airports.
This is not a one-off event, implementing the vision will take time, and we plan to hold ongoing check-ins and provide updates over the coming years to monitor progress. Looking ahead, we aim to involve more stakeholders in these discussions to foster collaboration on how best to leverage this growth strategy to drive conversion. On shared KPIs we all play a role in driving consideration, conversion, volume and value.
