GEBR. HEINEMANN
a handful. Following the press conference,
TRBusiness asked Max Heinemann for his thoughts on how he intends to future-proof the business, and whether the joint venture/ partnership approach is the growth blueprint moving forward. “I would say it’s a way forward
and definitely the one that speaks most to our culture and strength that we are aware of,” he said in a measured response. “But as much as we are aware of
the strengths, we are aware of certain weaknesses that naturally have to do with knowing who knows the market best and where the buying experience is coming from, which is one element, but you always have the risk of mixing it with a strong cultural foundation that we believe makes us very successful as well. “We don’t want to mess with
our DNA. That’s why you don’t see future acquisitions of just buying into partnerships. It also really depends on the difficulty of the market and the political setup. It costs a lot of time to learn that on your own.” Max Heinemann says it is often
two sides bringing the most to the table that determines future success in any given scenario. “It’s a lot about sharing
knowledge, risk, data…we have never seen the benefit of taking over the world as Heinemann, labelling it Heinemann and then thinking it makes everything more successful,” he said. “It is not a blueprint but clearly something we know how to manage really well.”
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a very long due-diligence process to ascertain whether both companies shared a long-term vision. “If you take joint ventures with
airports that is usually the point of long-term strategies, which is a much more complex partnership because you are aware of the fact that it’s not all about duty free shops anymore but terminal developments,” he said. “Why not have airports as your
clear partners? Shared risk gives you hugely more ways to experiment and prototype things as well, which is something that is getting more and more important. “There is a reason why travel
retailers are often faced with the critics that we are not interesting enough. I don’t think we are all so uncreative or boring, we have [to take] very clear, commercial decisions of what pays the bills.” While lauding the viability of the
current joint venture/partnership model Max Heinemann admits tweaks can be made, for instance with regards to its contractual obligations. “The model has to change slightly
so we get areas where we can prototype more without failing the potential ‘win’ by short-term losses (concessions fees or profitability). “In the future, hopefully it
comes down more to fun for the end consumer to build up image
Max Heinemann, Gebr. Heinemann
rather than just turnover. One leads to the other. There is so much untapped potential in the customer who buys today, especially with captive audiences.” He adds that the company
positions itself where others do not by establishing a clear ‘emotional connection’ with the end consumer. “It has become too much about
pure volume and short-term wins,” he admitted to TRBusiness. “We can learn a lot from domestic retail, in terms of the digital age. “They have much bigger and more
threatening problems than we have at the moment. I believe highly in the aspect of the travelling psychology, short-term buying decisions, pre- planned ideas but not necessarily making travel retail a full-blown e-commerce industry.” «
For a detailed report on Gebr. Heinemann’s 2018 performance, see
www.trbusiness.com.
“In the future, hopefully it comes down more to fun for the end consumer, to build up image rather than just turnover. One leads to the other.”
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Stronger airport ties Any aspirational public or private company will view organic growth as presenting the ideal development scenario, but the reality is this is not always possible, particularly in travel retail’s climate of intensifying consolidation. Max Heinemann agrees, pointing
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out that smaller, not necessarily 100% acquisitions, have significant merit. One example is its relationship with DFZ Capital in Malaysia, where subsidiary Heinemann Asia Pacific owns a 15% stake plus one share. Max says this wasn’t an ‘unfriendly buy-in’, but one conducted following
MAY 2019
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Left to right: Raoul Spanger, COO; Gunnar Heinemann, Advisory Board; Max Heinemann, CEO and Speaker of the Executive Board; Claus Heinemann, Advisory Board; and Kay Spanger, CCO.
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