2023 is shaping up to be the year that global travel retail really gets back on track for Travel Retail Consortium members and many of our supplier community. I’m delighted to be able to share upcoming meeting dates (both virtual and face-to-face) as well as our plans for a very special annual event later on this summer.

The pandemic helped us to be less reflective on past TRC events and meetings that became too long ago to remember who was present, let alone any meaningful member news due to the lack of industry activity. But this pause meant time to re-look at how we do things, how we report on our members’ news and how we plan our regular meetings. In 2023, I’m pleased to say we are back with a bang and growing our membership is top of the agenda alongside organising business social events on behalf of our members and a drive to grow our community even more.

The TRC is not a political organisation, we are a community of travel retail industry executives (past and present) keen to create an inclusive platform for members to share their point of view.

Putting the social into social networking is at the heart of what we do and discussion between members is key. We are a club of like-minded individuals and seasoned professionals hailing from all over the world. Since we started out in 1971, we have always tried to promote an openness and a willingness to share industry updates or supplier topics that have common ground with other members. These can be anything from Brexit regulations to new opportunities to grow with key travel retail partnerships.

Save the date: TRC events on the horizon

We now have meetings for members every other month, alternating between virtual and face-to-face. The physical events are mainly UK-based or held during major travel retail industry events overseas. I’m pleased to confirm a few upcoming meetings, so save these dates:

  • Thursday 29th June 23 (Zoom link)
  • Thursday 17th August 23 (physical event)
  • Thursday 19th October 23 (Zoom link)
  • Thursday 7th December 23 (physical event)

We are also planning a cruise / ferry retail focus event in September. We have an amazing venue which will feature an informal trade show, dinner and a special speaker, so do stay tuned for the news on this. Watch this space for details coming soon about our exciting Cannes event.

Online community

We are delighted with the new look TRC website and all the attention it has been receiving recently. This is thanks to our partnership with Essential Communications and in particular, founder Row Holland for gathering all our members’ latest news, thank you Row!

We have a new section on our website to highlight current members and their respective TRC categories: Accolade Wines (wine), Aurora (soft toys), Go Travel (travel accessories – pillows), Mars ITR (confectionery), Ian Macleod (spirits – gin), Kurate (jewellery) Heineken (beer), Skross (travel accessories – adapters), Taittinger (Champagne), Remy Cointreau (Cognac), Imperial Tobacco (tobacco).

For all our current members, if you have news to share we are happy to post via our Linkedin page too.

New members welcome

We would like to grow the TRC community this year. We are looking for more brand members to fill vacant gaps for the following categories: beauty (skincare, cosmetics, fragrances, haircare), spirits (rum, vodka, whisky), fashion and accessories, watches, fine foods. So do get in touch if you would like to become a category brand member, or you are a retailer with a story to share.