The German firm says it is not closing the door on this market forever, but will keep monitoring it with a view to possibly re-entering at a later date.
In a statement from Nivea Travel Retail, the company says it will realign its travel retail business, stating: “For the future, the focus of Nivea’s travel retail business will lie with markets outside of Europe.”
“The last few years have shown that the purchase behaviour of shoppers within the European travel environment is not yet as favourable for us than in other regions of the world. After careful consideration, we have therefore decided to discontinue our activities in Europe,” it adds.
“We will however keep monitoring the development of the channel in this region in the years to come and re-evaluate our decision.”
The decision will mean that Beiersdorf will look to further expand the Nivea Travel Retail business in other, more lucrative markets around the world.
It says that the markets in the Middle East, North Africa, and India will be the first to benefit from this realignment.
Europe plans didn’t work out…
Beiersdorf unveiled its travel retail strategy for the Nivea brand with plans to target the mass market with a range of skin care products, almost five years ago, stating that it was looking to tackle the travel retail market by introducing over 65 products and a variety of exclusive travel sets.
It saw the birth of the travel retail division, and implemented its first activities initially in Europe, before reaching the Middle East and Africa, followed by Asia and the Americas.
“Approximately 70% of passengers currently buy nothing at all at the airport. This implies that the product range offered today in Europe simply does not meet their wants and needs,” Ilka Schütte, the then director of global travel retail at Beiersdorf, told CosmeticsDesign-Europe.com at the time, adding that she felt the Nivea brand had a good advantage to take on this market.
*( Schütte left this post in 2013, and is now Project Manager eCommerce & Change Management at Beiersdorf.)