AIRLINE NEWS SPECIAL
“The key DNA of Scorpio has always been built on customer service; I’m sure Heinemann will carry that DNA of not only delivering products on time, but customer service that is second to none.”
Stuart McGuire, Consultant
Above left: John Baumgartner, Sales Director Inflight & Catering, Gebr. Heinemann. Above right: McGuire says the Heinemann team has been ‘extremely positive’ and has shown an incredible amount of goodwill.
an autonomous, unique and global sales channel, according to Baumgartner. Indeed, its meteoric growth curve in
inflight retail during its 12-year association with Scorpio has already helped it to cement a market-leading position in Europe, as alluded to above. The acquisition will allow it to expand its
future interests in Asia, the Middle East and further afield. Of course, as a retailer and wholesaler
Heinemann already has prowess in the inflight market, buying and selling branded products to airlines, notably in Europe, but manufacturing skus under licence adds a new dimension to its activities. “This is a new process for Heinemann,
being involved in product design and placing orders with factories whereas we have always worked with agents or distributors in between,” says Baumgartner. Both sides have praised each other for
the seamlessness of the transition, with McGuire stating it has played out ‘better than expected’. While praising the synergies between
both sides, Baumgartner did admit to TRBusiness that the operational shift of the Scorpio portfolio was more complex than first expected. “The business Scorpio was managing was
far more complex than what most people understand; transport, logistics, lead times, forecasts, demand planning, production orders, certificates of origin and registration of different items and so forth. “That deep customer knowledge
– [understanding] behaviours and preferences – has been a bigger project than imagined, but the support from Scorpio on the handover has been incredible and I want to give a lot of credit to them.”
OCTOBER 2019 McGuire added: “Heinemann are a much
bigger company, so it’s inevitable that the processes and level of information they require is going to be high, whereas we are smaller so we can manage things on a more localised level. “I’ve been spending my time making the
transition happen as well as it can, working with the team in the UK who I must say has been excellent.”
Retaining the Scorpio ‘DNA’ Inevitably, the transfer of one business to another is not always plain sailing, with the majority of existing personnel at Scorpio taking redundancy. Sharing his thoughts on this, McGuire
says: “We went through a full process of informing the staff. There has been plenty of time for those to find new jobs and there’s been an incentive for those remaining staff to stay. “They’ve been absolutely exemplary with their attitudes, extremely professional
with the transition of the business and customer and supplier relationships. They have fantastic reputations and we’ve placed a few in other inflight businesses. “The Heinemann team have also
been extremely positive, have shown an incredible amount of goodwill. “Together, it’s been fantastic to be a part
of, even though it’s sad for the UK team, and for me personally.” Asked for his thoughts on where he’d
like the absorbed inflight business under Heinemann to head, McGuire adds: “The key DNA of Scorpio has always been built on customer service; we’ve brought innovative products to the market, extremely successfully, for a number of years and we’ve done it with a smile on our face and an enormous amount of goodwill from all our customers. “Heinemann will have to put their own
spin on things, but I’m sure they will carry that DNA of not only delivering products on time, but customer service that is second to none.” «
An extended interview with Stuart McGuire and John Baumgartner will appear on
trbusiness.com.
McGuire has praised the Scorpio collective for their exemplary conduct during the handover to leading global travel retailer, Gebr. Heinemann.
TRBUSINESS 17
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