The House of Somrus, the cream liqueur brand inspired by flavors from India—has made a big impact in travel retail since launching in the channel through high-profile digital “coffee breaks” during the Virtual Travel Retail Expos in 2020 and 2021 and the Virtual Summit of the Americas last year.
Represented in the channel by Duty Free Global, the fast-growing, award-winning cream liqueur has now been listed with Harding Retail and has launched onboard seven Carnival Cruise ships and Virgin Voyages’ brand new Scarlet Lady.
Cruise guests onboard Carnival’s Breeze, Conquest, Elation, Glory, Paradise,
Radiance, and Vista, as well as the Scarlet Lady can enjoy all three flavors, which are made with real dairy cream and finest 5x distilled handcrafted rum: Somrus Coffee, Somrus Mango and Somrus Chai, and purchase them to bring home from the engaging in-store activations featuring the brand.
“These photos illustrate the superb level of activation by the Harding Retail team and how well Somrus integrates into that exclusive Global Travel Retail environment,” comments Guy May, Director of Global Business at the House of Somrus.
“The partnership with Harding Retail has been a tremendous success and has exceeded all of our expectations. We started this relationship with an introduction from Barry Geoghegan at the inaugural Moodie Davitt Virtual Travel Retail Expo in October 2020; Somrus participated as part the Duty Free Global stand,” May tells TMI.
Somrus was new to the channel and looking for a way to add value to these retailers who were struggling due to COVID, he add.
“It was my first introduction to Pat Molloy and Michael Stewart from Harding Retail and I was struck by their optimism and focus on their retail customer’s experience. That 360 degree experiential approach Harding takes through their Oceantainment program seemed to be a perfect match for our packaging and innovative approach to the cream liqueur category.”
May points out that Somrus’ development is intentionally orientated toward the Global Travel Retail Channels.
“We have had tremendous feedback from Harding Retail/Carnival Cruise Line customers who have made Somrus a top ten selling brand in just a few short months. We are grateful for all of this support and our partners, Duty Free Global, have been using this momentum to expand with other Global Travel Retailers. My thanks to Qatar Duty Free, Lotte Duty Free, Barracuda Store, Duty Free Americas, and DFS for helping to bring Somrus to the world!”
