The holistic approach
As the company’s recent results for the first nine months of the financial year confirmed so resoundingly, Rémy Cointreau is in the midst of an exciting period of global expansion. Consolidated turnover of €610.5m, representing organic growth of 5.6% for the group’s own brands and 2.2% overall, headlined an impressive roll-call of statistics for a company whose leading brands – Rémy Martin, Cointreau and Piper-Heidsieck – appear evermore prominent in both domestic and travel retail.
The strategy in the latter market is summed up neatly by Peter Sant, global travel retail director at Rémy Cointreau and, of course, one of the distinguished line-up of judges set to preside over the 2007 Frontier Awards. “Over the last couple of years Rémy Cointreau has implemented an integrated global
strategy in travel retail aimed at brand building and volume growth for all our brands, including Rémy Martin, Piper Heidsieck and Cointreau,” he explains. “It is a holistic approach, covering advertising, promotion and new product development.”
Cognac offer Rémy Martin remains one of the star players in the group’s portfolio, and so it follows that considerable effort has been put into the expansion of this brand during recent years. Under the umbrella of a promotional campaign designed, says Sant, to emphasise the use of “the finest crus in the world”, the Rémy Martin range has grown steadily to include a host of travel retail-exclusive products – among them the new VSOP Premier Cru and 1988 Vintage Premier Cru, both of which are scheduled to launch into the channel globally this month.
Rather than pursue a one-size-fits-all strategy for the introduction of TR exclusives, Sant and team prefer a more individually tailored approach. “We are selective in our implementation of the campaign, prioritising our choice of core outlets for certain products in terms of current business and designing the promotions to suit the market in question.”
The last six months have witnessed a flurry of activity in this area, beginning with the introduction of elaborate new presentations for Rémy Martin XO Premier Cru and XO Excellence at the TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes. These have since been launched into TR outlets where it is possible for them to be supported by “assisted tastings, appropriate high quality merchandising and prestigious display. Hong Kong is an excellent example of a location which can accommodate and promote a new product of such quality.”
The latest presentations are proving particularly popular in Asia, with evidence of trading up on the part of Chinese consumers, some of whom are said to be moving from Rémy Martin VSOP to Rémy Martin Club and Rémy Martin XO Excellence. The new offers are also meeting a positive response from travellers based elsewhere in the region: “Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese travellers form a very solid consumer base for Rémy Martin, and here we have seen an increase in sales year on year and considerable success for Rémy Martin XO Premier Cru and XO Excellence.”
More recently still, there has been Louis XIII Black Pearl Cognac, an exclusive series of 786 carafes, around a quarter of which are being made available to duty free/travel retail. Launched into Asia TR in January, followed by the US and Europe, Louis XIII Black Pearl is presented in a lavish Baccarat-manufactured crystal decanter that is said to deliver “extraordinary flashes” of chrome, anthracite, black or platinum.
According to Sant, who describes the Louis XIII liquid as “the essence of luxury”, demand is strong. “There is a limited allocation for travel retail and we are therefore very selective about where we sell it and also how we sell it, as our sales demand is exceeding our travel retail quota.”
As indicated by the initial launch focus for Louis XIII Black Pearl Cognac, Asia-Pacific is now a key market for Rémy Martin. “Asian consumers have always been important for Rémy Martin and will certainly continue to be so in the future,” confirms Sant. “We are performing particularly well in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan.”
Not that other territories are being neglected, however, with US and Middle Eastern travel retail markets still high up on the priority list for all of Rémy Cointreau’s core products. Moreover, adds Sant, “we are also continuing to focus attention on core European outlets, which still account for the lion’s share of global travel retail sales after all.”
The recent announcement that Rémy Cointreau intends to leave the Maxxium Global Distribution Agreement as of March 30, 2009, has inevitably given rise to considerable speculation about the group’s long-term plans. For now, however, Sant stresses that it is very much a case of “business as usual. Global travel retail is performing well and we work closely with Maxxium and the retail outlets to ensure that our coordinated promotional strategies are implemented efficiently and effectively. It is therefore much too early to speculate what can or will happen after that.”
Notwithstanding inevitable concerns about current security issues – “this could represent the biggest threat we have ever seen in our industry, but some people still don’t get it!” – Sant believes there are still plenty of fresh opportunities in TR for all of the group’s brands, not least Rémy Martin. “There is massive potential in the travel retail and duty free market provided that retail is kept at the forefront of airport development so that the increase in passenger traffic can translate into increased retail footfall,” he says. “The profile of cognac as an aspirational drink is already established in these fast-developing countries, and provided that we continue to enhance and innovate there is every reason
for optimism.”
Delicious
Digg
StumbleUpon
Facebook
