Mondelēz opens duty-free store for Toblerone chocolate in Swiss airport

Mondelēz has opened a gifting store dedicated to Toblerone chocolate in a partnership with Swiss-based travel retailer Dufry at Zürich airport.

The Oreo maker said it wanted to pay tribute to Toblerone’s Swiss heritage, and provide a “multi-dimensional gifting experience” to travelers.

“The innovative space is the perfect setting to build on Toblerone’s impressive track record of in-store engagement,” said Ivo Knuesel, head of category planning at Mondelēz World Travel Retail.

The Toblerone store is supported by three main pillars: digital in-store engagement, online communications and e-commerce, he noted. It features backwalls with incorporated screens, magnifying product displays.

Mondelēz also responded to the personalization trend by installing a “create your own Toblerone” gifting station in the back of the retail space, where shoppers can print a complimentary personalized message on a ribbon for their gift bags in less than a minute.

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“The demand for destination presents is satisfied with engaging ‘sense of place’ Toberlone offers,” Mondelēz said. “Shoppers can also choose a sleeve for their chocolate bars with either ‘Zürich City,’ featuring the skyline of Switzerland’s largest metropolis or ‘Grüezi,’ ‘Hello’ in Swiss German.”

However, the company did not comment on the weight of the Toblerone bars sold at the Duffry store as it previously downsized the product in the UK due to higher ingredient costs.

Mondelēz recently posted a 2.4% organic net revenue growth in Q1 2018, reaching $6.77bn in total, while its European business grew by 4.7% in organic net revenue driven by both chocolate and biscuits segments.