Despite the persistence of Covid-19 in the first half, growth in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region was strong in all key markets, most notably in the UK, France, Germany and Benelux.
In Europe, sales rose as bars and restaurants reopened their doors and tourists gradually returned. Greece stands out with a resounding performance from Metaxa and a firm move upmarket. Across the region, Cointreau is reaping the rewards of its Margarita cocktail campaigns. And The Botanist continues to go from strength to strength. Telmont champagne made a successful entrance to the UK market and Germany took delivery of its first Westland whiskies. In France, the newly established distribution subsidiary, Rémy Cointreau France Distribution (RCFD), posted double-digit growth. Paris is also home to a team dedicated to incubation brands (Domaine des Hautes Glaces and Westland).
The pandemic has hit some regions in Africa and the Middle East harder than others. Tight restrictions continued in some key markets like South Africa, while in others, such as Israel and the United Arab Emirates, it was almost business-as-usual. The challenges were considerable, but Rémy Cointreau enjoyed solid growth and continued its move to the high end across all the region’s markets, helped by a very active social media presence.
In 2022/2023, the EMEA region is expected to benefit from further recovery with a return to more balanced growth across the various distribution channels.
Global travel continued to show the effects of the pandemic in 2021/2022. But it wasn’t all bad news: the recovery in Europe has been better than expected, followed by the Americas and the Middle East. The rising tide also lifted Rémy Cointreau sales with a net increase in the value of its brand portfolio reflecting customers’ move upmarket.
During the summer, the brand launched several initiatives to raise its profile across Europe. In Greece, a digital campaign that broke through to an audience of 1.6 million encouraged travellers to take home "A piece of Greece with Metaxa". Sales surged three-fold compared with 2020, with high-end products doing exceptionally well. In Rome, Hamburg, Copenhagen and London, Rémy Cointreau Global Travel Retail brought mixology to airports, shaking up cocktails to greet customers and showcase the brands’ versatility. Sales outperformed global recovery trends during these campaigns and, in some cases, even outstripped 2019 sales.
Keeping the environment at the top of the agenda, Rémy Cointreau cut back on travel by keeping the e-learning platforms for the sales force and organising an innovative virtual annual summit for its partners around the world. In other carbon-shrinking news, Rémy Cointreau is about to discontinue the use of outer packaging on its main products.
The outlook for 2022/2023 is cautiously optimistic. The brand expects travel to recover gradually, especially in the second half. Global Travel Retail - a strategic channel for brand awareness, customer engagement and expanding the range - intends to continue its investments in anticipation of international travel returning to rude health.
