Robbie Thain
Founder, CEO
AI-generated illustrative image. Not an official campaign image.
Bath & Body Works’ travel-retail plans put product trial in focus. Makai examines staffing, footprint and measurement implications for CPG teams.
On October 21, 2026, The Moodie Davitt Report published an interview about Bath & Body Works and its travel-retail growth plans. The fragrance and body-care retailer’s international leader Tony Garrison described a refreshed offer built around testing, sampling and shopper interaction. The interview connected that sensory experience with an ambition to expand globally through partners and suitable retail formats.
The practical change described in The Moodie Davitt Report is a refresh across fixtures, colors, packaging and marketing. Garrison also described updated product formulations. Together, those changes position fragrance selection as part of the retail experience rather than leaving it entirely to packaging and shelf presentation.
Garrison said global expansion would be part of the ambition to scale travel retail. He identified strategic partners and formats that communicate the breadth of the offer as part of that plan. The company is also considering activation and kiosk formats alongside the presentation changes.
Bath & Body Works’ first-quarter 2026 results release listed 37 partner-operated international travel-retail stores as of May 2, 2026. That is an existing partner footprint around which to evaluate the proposed direction.
For business context, the release reported total net sales of $1.378 billion, down 3.2% year over year.
The plans and the business results need separate readings. The interview describes proposed experiences rather than a completed kiosk rollout, and neither source reports sampling conversion or sales-lift results. The first-quarter release does not isolate travel-retail revenue. Its International and Other category includes royalties and international and domestic wholesale sales.
Our take at Makai is straightforward: make the welcome warm and the operating plan precise. A pleasant product encounter deserves a commercial purpose. For CPG and beverage marketers, that purpose might be a more informed product choice or a purchase that the team can measure.
That is why this story matters beyond fragrance. We specialize in retail demos, product sampling programs and roadshows that bring brands face to face with their audiences. Those programs are designed to drive trial and build consumer relationships while supporting retail velocity across multiple locations.
The transferable idea is not a miniature spa. It is a deliberate connection between trying a product and deciding what to do next. In a beverage program, a taste is the product experience; the surrounding conversation should help the shopper understand the offer and locate the relevant purchase option.
For us, aloha-style hospitality and commercial discipline belong together. The guest should feel welcome without having to work through an unnecessarily complicated presentation. The marketing team should know which consumer response it is trying to generate before it judges the activation.
We also design mobile activations and roadshows for 90-day product launch windows. Those programs are intended to accelerate trial and build trust while supporting retail performance. A defined launch window gives this discussion a practical frame: the team needs a clear purpose for the encounter before choosing between a roadshow, retail demonstration or event.
That is the thinking behind connecting product trial with retail action. A busy station is visible activity. Return on Investment requires a commercial evaluation beyond the number of people who stopped.
For CPG operators adapting this concept, the downstream work sits in staffing, footprint design, partner coordination and reporting. Our view is that these decisions belong together because each shapes the product encounter the team intends to deliver.
Makai’s retail demonstrations use trained brand ambassadors to drive in-store sales through real conversations and product trials.
For a team adapting the travel-retail concept, the staffing implication is to define the conversation as carefully as the physical presentation. The interview connects trial with interaction; a staffed encounter should therefore have a stated role in helping someone choose. That is a planning principle, not a reason to add people without a defined task.
Staffing discussions can focus on whether the ambassador is introducing the offer, supporting product comparison or connecting the trial to a purchase. Those functions should not disappear behind an attractive fixture.
Refreshed fixtures are part of Garrison’s stated direction. For a CPG team, the useful design question is whether the space helps shoppers understand the range and move from interest to selection. A larger display and a clearer choice are different objectives.
At Natural Products Expo West 2025, we designed and managed a 40 by 20 foot trade show environment for Glanbia. It brought think!, Isopure, Optimum Nutrition and Amazing Grass into one coordinated space. Our team handled concept, operations, staffing and breakdown.
More than 14,000 recorded product samples were distributed across the activation stations. That count describes participation, not an independently measured sales result. The operational lesson we draw is to treat the shared footprint and the individual product experiences as one design problem.
The same principle informs planning sampling across a product portfolio. Space should have a job beyond holding more products. For a multi-product activation, that job should be clear enough for the creative team and the field team to evaluate the same plan.
Garrison’s emphasis on strategic partners matters because the reported travel-retail stores are partner-operated. In our view, the commercial idea and the operating brief need to describe the same experience. An ambitious concept is not enough if the partner-facing plan leaves the product interaction unclear.
Makai’s work includes storage and logistics for sampling product and event gear, with shipping, tracking and nationwide delivery coordination. For a physical program, that capability addresses a practical part of execution: the product and equipment need a coordinated path to the activation. A display concept alone does not answer that question.
The planning implication is to review the experience alongside the resources that support it. Product presentation and product availability should be part of the same operating discussion rather than separate definitions of readiness.
For an adapted CPG program, trial participation, product selection and purchase are useful starting measures. They describe different parts of the intended journey and should not be treated as interchangeable.
Makai’s positioning centers on face-to-face experiences designed to capture attention and generate measurable sales pipeline. For a consumer sampling program, our view is that reporting should distinguish the interaction from the commercial response. A product sample can document trial; a purchase or qualified next action answers a different question.
That distinction gives retailer-ready reporting a useful role in the plan rather than leaving measurement until the equipment is packed. The relevant outcome should be agreed with the activation objective, not inferred from how crowded the space looked.
Garrison told The Moodie Davitt Report that Bath & Body Works is looking at activations and kiosks where travelers can enjoy “mini spa moments and small indulgences.”
For us, the value of that phrase is the focus on the person experiencing the product. A CPG adaptation does not need to copy the setting. It needs to make the trial understandable and give the shopper a comfortable route to a decision.
The strategic issue is whether the experience and the operating model serve the same goal. Bath & Body Works has described a direction that brings product interaction into its travel-retail proposition. For CPG leaders, the useful response is to evaluate the connection between the product encounter and the outcome the team expects to record.
Before you approve your next activation footprint, will you ask your field lead today to map how the staff conversation connects product trial to a measurable purchase or qualified next action?
For brand managers and field leads responsible for product trial, putting Makai in charge of retail demonstrations connects that work with trained brand ambassadors and an in-store sales objective. Makai uses real conversations and product trials to support in-store selling for CPG and food and beverage teams.
30 Years Experiential & Retail Activation Partner for CPG & Beverage Brands | Multi-Market Demos, Roadshows & Costco/Club Programs That Actually Sell
