Hershey WTR to launch pretzel range at TFWA AP
Hershey's DiPPED PreTzels snacking range comes in three varieties
Hershey is bringing the latest additions to its travel retail portfolio to the TFWA Asia Pacific Exhibition in Singapore. The DiPPED PreTzels range comes in three varieties – Hershey's DiPPeD PreTzels Milk Chocolate, Hershey's DiPPeD PreTzels COOKIES 'N' CREME and REESE'S DiPPeD PreTzels Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter – and is available in 240-gram bags, ideal for snacking and sharing.
"Confectionery remains a key category for travel retail in Asia, commanding the second highest footfall behind only perfumes in 2022, and the highest purchase and conversion rates,” says Hershey's World Travel Retail Director Rebecca Wong, referencing data for airports from travel retail research agency m1nd-set. “Conversion rates in APAC are also above the global average for confectionery.”
“Even so, we know that almost 50% of confectionery visitors in the region – and over 90% of total travelers – do not make a purchase, which represents a huge opportunity for the category. A key part of unlocking this opportunity is ensuring that our shoppers and consumers are at the heart of everything we do.”
On recent changes in shopper behavior, Wong notes the recent shift toward snacking purchases, which is a global trend but evident in Asia specifically too. According to the data from m1nd-set, self and share purchases made up two-thirds of duty free purchases in the region in 2022, while gifting dropped to just a third, almost half of pre-pandemic levels.
“Hershey has a wide variety of snacking brands that extends beyond traditional confectionery and into categories such as chips, popcorn, and pretzels," explains Wong. "We are pleased to be able to leverage this portfolio to bring something that we believe is truly innovative and unique to travel retail, and provide our customers an opportunity to extend their confectionery range into an adjacent, high-growth snacking category. We are seeing huge demand for alternative snacking options globally, but duty free shoppers still currently face a limited offering in comparison to domestic markets."
According to data from Euromonitor the savory snacks industry is now worth US$218 billion globally, and has recently overtaken confectionery (US$203 billion) having grown at +5.3% per year over the last five years (versus just +2.0% for confectionery), with pretzels growing ahead of the industry still at +5.8%.
Hershey's DiPPED PreTzels specifically have performed extremely well in the US domestic market since their launch, growing +10.6% last year and are now worth $79M.
“We also know that confectionery is highly impulsive; one of the top category visit drivers is purely to browse, and almost two thirds of purchases are made on impulse,” says Wong, quoting figures from Pi-Insight’s 2022 Global Duty Free Confectionery Shopper Study. “Finding 'nothing of interest' has been identified as the top purchase barrier. It is crucial, then, that we continue to captivate shoppers, and disrupt the habitual browsing that we know occurs in duty free by offering shoppers something new and exciting each time they travel.
“That said, while shoppers are increasingly on the lookout for new and different, we know that they still seek products from well-known, global brands that they trust. Hershey's DiPPED PreTzels combine the sweet taste of chocolate with the salty crunch of pretzels, creating a satisfying flavor contrast and point of difference versus traditional confectionery, while simultaneously leveraging the strength and scale of Hershey's global brands.”
Hershey is exhibiting at the TFWA Asia Pacific Exhibition & Conference at Booth 2-K29 in Basement 2.
