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The Advantage Report™ Global Travel Retail is an annual study based on both quantitative and qualitative research. Advantage believes that collaborative business relationships enable superior commercial success and that to be strong, business relationships must be objectively measured and benchmarked over time. Moreover, building strong, collaborative relationships jointly helps suppliers and retailers deliver against consumer expectations for which they are rewarded.

In spring 2017, over 440 key stakeholders from 69 different operators participated in the Advantage Report™ survey. Participants evaluated the performance of their suppliers with respect to approximately 30 business practices spanning relationships, personnel, category, consumer & trade marketing and supply chain & service. Respondents also provide feedback on best-in-class attributes of suppliers. One respondent was clear on what best-in-class suppliers do with respect to sharing information. “What makes them stand out is the strong partnership built between the two companies where all information is shared. There is collaboration in all areas, including forecasting, planning, promotional planning and so on.”

The programs run annually with the next program commencing March, 2018.

Within confectionery LINDT is to build on its status as one of the top-ranked suppliers in travel retail by focussing on customer needs, innovation and partnership.

The success of this approach was recognised when the company was named Best-In-Class Supplier in the confectionery category of the 2017 Advantage Report™ for Global Travel Retail, ranking first overall and achieving top-tier ratings across all seven performance areas. It has seen LINDT rise up the rankings in the study since first taking part in 2013, when the company ranked fourth, moving up to third in 2014 and second in 2015.

Peter Zehnder head of the LINDT global duty free division cites how listening to customer’s feedback was among the factors that have helped it become a global leader in the category; “Our dedication to listening to, and implementing the feedback of customers has helped us improve year on year.”

In addition, LINDT held a joint workshop with Advantage Group International to help understand customer response, analyse strengths and weaknesses, and create a concrete action plan that takes into account each region of their travel retail operation.

“We have also placed considerable emphasis on founding and nurturing our premium partnerships, along with our continued focus on premium quality and our fast and flexible business approach,” continues Zehnder. “Innovation leadership is in our DNA. When it comes to products, we have channelled our expertise and experience into creating a portfolio of genuine travel exclusives, providing retailers with a huge array of travel-exclusive novelties and travel gifts each year, while appealing to different nationalities and every traveller’s budget.

Garth McAdam, director travel retail at Advantage commented that; “LINDT is top of the class in confectionery and the travel retail operators are seeing the value that LINDT brings to the table across multiple business fundamentals. Retailers have expressed high praise for the quality of the personnel within their organization as well as their ability to develop category plans that meet the retailer’s expectations.”