Loacker is best-known in the APAC region for its Classic range of cream-layered wafers, and within its travel retail business the firm has seen particular demand for its new multi-pack formats, such as the Loacker Classic Minis mixes which contain 20 to 30 individually-wrapped mini crispy wafers.
“This travel pack mainly focuses on our traditional best-sellers, the hazelnut-based Napolitaner and the chocolate-based Cremkakao and is based strongly on a sharing concept as we have found that today’s consumers are not just buying Loacker as gifts but also to share at home with their families,” Loacker Global Product Manager Channel and Occasion Gaia Ferrandi told FoodNavigator-Asia at the recent Tax Free World Association (TFWA) APAC 2024 event in Singapore.
“The fact that these are all individually wrapped not only lends itself to convenient sharing, but is also instrumental in ensuring portion control, which is also something that many consumers are concerned with.
“This comes into play even more strongly when travelling consumers are buying these to consume on-the-go for self-consumption, as it means they do not need to struggle with finishing an entire wafer block in one go or deal with the mess of keeping an unfinished package.”
Similarly, the firm’s current travel retail bestseller in APAC is its variety pack Loacker Best of Moments, which is a compilation of mini versions of its various snacks from wafers to Chocolat (chocolate topped wafers), Patisserie (chocolate coated wafers) and Tortina (round, cream-filled wafers with a chocolate coating).
“The large variety is what really attracts consumers as they have the option to try more items with one purchase, and again with each being a mini version that is individually wrapped they can figure out what best suits them from coated to uncoated and the various fillings,” she added.
“We also have another reason for focusing on the variety of coated as well as uncoated here - due to the warmer temperatures here in Asia, the Classic uncoated wafers tend to do better as there is far less melting associated with them which is really important for on-the-go consumption, but there is also a level of indulgence that can only be found with the coated products, so this is a mixture where consumers can have some of both.”
APAC activity
Ferrandi also highlighted the APAC region as one of the most crucial to Loacker from a sales perspective as it is one of its most active markets.
“We see a total of 42% of our overall sales coming from the APAC region, and this continues to grow at a two-digit percentage consistently every year so it is undoubtedly one of our most active regions,” she said.
“As such it is also one of the markets where we try out the most new products and formats to see what works the best, and means that we have had a huge variety of Loacker products in the APAC market over the years.
“We have no particular target consumer demographic as our products can appeal to everyone from children to adults – what we have seen some variation in terms of appeal in is when it comes to the type of chocolate used.
“In this case, we have found that Europe markets tend to prefer dark chocolate more whereas APAC Middle Eastern ones prefer milk chocolate, so we have variants with all of these in order to cover a wider target audience.”
