Perfetti Van Melle (PVM) will showcase new sour products for its Mentos and Chupa Chups brands, as well as expanded refreshment and sharing offers at this year’s TFWA World Exhibition & Conference in Cannes, 29 September – 2 October.
The sugar confectionery specialist is to focus on building its snacking and sharing offer as well as highlighting its refreshment portfolio in travel retail for 2026, with several new product developments (NPDs) due to launch in Cannes.
PVM has five key strategy pillars for the travel retail channel in 2026:
PVM understands travellers are looking for moments to refresh themselves after long flights, and whilst it already has several refreshment products within its portfolio, the company is expanding into new flavours with Mentos Sour Gum including Sour Strawberry and Sour Green Apple.
Refreshment is a key priority for the business following the acquisition of Mondelez, and on this year’s stand in Cannes, meeting rooms carry new refreshment themes and branding.
PVM is introducing Mentos refreshment retail displays that will help bring this strategy to life in-store: capturing impulse, highlighting innovation and reinforcing a strong family identity across the gum and mints portfolio.
While Mentos Gum remains PVM’s primary focus, PVM will explore localised opportunities for its new brands in travel retail, such as Stimorol, which continues to be important in Scandinavian regions, as well as opening up Trident into key markets.
Snacking and sharing are key consumption moments for the sugar confectionery category within travel retail. PVM is developing its current product portfolio to meet this consumer need. 2026 will see the introduction of Fruit-tella Sharing Bags containing a mix of 200g Fruit-tella sticks including Strawberry, Berries & Cherry (Blackberry, Raspberry and Cherry) and Summer Fruits (Strawberry, Orange and Lemon).
The company is looking to grow Fruit-tella’s brand presence in travel retail, with expectations to make it the company’s third biggest brand in 2026. Fruit-tella stands for ‘flavours from nature’ and its brand DNA is centred on the use of real fruit juice and natural flavouring in its sweets. Expect more NPD to come from Fruit-tella with travel retail partners in mind.
PVM plans to update its gifting range for some of its hero items for 2026 with new flavours and formats. Following the success of the Chupa Sour Pouch Bag, new to market will be a Sour Mega Chupa Chups Lollipop including Sour Strawberry, Sour Apple and Sour Lemon flavours. Elsewhere, the Chupa Chups Crazy Plane will see new colourways and reduced plastic used for its box. The Fruit-tella Jumbo Stick will expand with a new, third flavour option – Berries & Cherry, which joins Strawberry and Summer Fruits.
In 2026, the company will take a more focused approach to in-store airport activations for the year ahead and beyond, working with its retail partners on key locations. Visibility remains a top priority in high-traffic airports and PVM will be launching new hero units due to be rolled out globally – for Chupa Chups and Mentos, with Fruit-tella to follow later in 2026.
PVM International Shopper Marketing, GTR , Emma Helleman said: “These eye-catching displays are designed to grab attention, create instant brand recognition and drive impulse purchases. With interactive traveller engagement elements, we hope our new displays will make the shopping experience more engaging and memorable.”
Border stores remain a key part of PVM’s travel retail strategy and dedicated NPDs are due to launch in 2026 that offer added value for this channel: the Mentos Mini Fruit Mix Bag includes 18 Mini Rolls in flavours Apple, Strawberry and Orange; additionally, the Mentos Gum Rolls Value Pack launches in Freshmint, Bubblefresh and Tropical flavours.
PVM Marketing Manager, GTR, Lauren Potter said: “2025 has been a busy year for regional activations in the Americas and Europe with our recent shop-in-shop launch in Barcelona, providing inspiration for interactive and larger retail footprints, where space allows.
“With a wide range of innovative NPDs due to launch for 2026, we will be working very closely with our travel retail partners to ensure PVM’s ambitions across all our growth pillars are met.”
PVM is showing in M59 Green Village, a larger stand this year, to reflect both its ambition in global travel retail and expanded product portfolio.
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