Collaboration and a long-term perspective are at the heart of Gebr. Heinemann's success. CSO Florian Seidel explains the pivotal role of partnerships on equal terms in driving innovation in travel retail and determining the company's path forward.
Florian, what makes a partnership with Gebr. Heinemann special and what distinguishes the company from its competitors?
Florian Seidel: As a family business, Gebr. Heinemann values long-term, trusting, and respectful partnerships. We have built up an international network and work with companies all over the world that share our mindset and values and complement us in terms of expertise and business areas. Through this network, we offer an unparalleled, strong center of excellence. With the commitment and dedication of our partners, we can truly leverage our strengths and mitigate risks. Our ability and willingness to maintain these kinds of partnerships make us more flexible and resilient than others.
What characterizes your partners around the globe?
Florian Seidel: We maintain partnerships with very different companies in various forms of participation. Each partner is in this group because they bring additional skills and abilities that take our service offering to the next level, aiming to turn travel time into valuable time. For example, our Turkish joint ventures, ATU Duty Free and Unifree Duty Free, have extensive experience in managing brand boutiques. The ASTRA Group, with whom we operate at Jeddah Airport in Saudi Arabia, is a multinational conglomerate with synergies across a wide range of sectors.
Local market know-how is also a key supplementary benefit in many partnerships, along with the cultural approaches. We respect cultural differences and enjoy working closely with local companies that know what is important in their market. Examples include our long-term South African joint venture, Big Five Duty Free, and our new partnership with the Indian family business BBM Group, with whom we have been awarded retail concessions at Noida International Airport in 2024.
We must recognize that the travel retail market is not defined by borders, sales channels, or countries; it is defined by the travelers, and we should be wherever they are and serve them what they expect from us.
Gebr. Heinemann is known for its personal approach in its partnerships. At the TFWA World Exhibition & Conference in Cannes, you invited customers and partners to an evening together for the second year in a row. What is the idea and purpose of such an event?
Florian Seidel: Our motto in Cannes was “One Group, One Vision, One Family,” and we focused on the importance of close, personal collaboration and a common goal when it comes to unlocking potential for the future of travel retail. Our more than 650 guests experienced our Heinemann spirit firsthand – how we treat each other and how we value, promote, and cultivate cooperation and exchange within our large Heinemann Family, of which we consider them all to be a part. Doing business with us means being part of a strong group of companies. Our drone show captured this perfectly and was the highlight of the evening. It was visible from afar in the night sky over Cannes, and I believe we made a clear statement with it, leaving a lasting impression.
In addition to partnerships, Gebr. Heinemann places a high value on the diversification of the business. Why is this so important to you?
Florian Seidel: The recent past has shown us just how crucial a broad business portfolio is. With retail and distribution, our operations are based on two strong pillars, and in both, we are active in very different channels. This diversifies risks and ensures a healthy balance – for resilience, for added value through synergy effects, and for long-term business success. Our projects, market entries, new wins, and contract extensions in 2024 once again impressively demonstrate that we are on the right track with this positioning.
But no matter how differentiated our activities are, one thing always remains the same: our main focus on the traveler, whose travel time we want to turn into valuable time. We must recognize that the travel retail market is not defined by borders, sales channels, or countries; it is defined by the travelers, and we should be wherever they are and serve them what they expect from us.
You just referred to Gebr. Heinemann's 2024 sales achievements. What were your highlights?
Florian Seidel: Despite the tense economic and geopolitical situation, we were able to achieve 21 percent year-on-year sales growth in 2024. And the good news is that this growth was driven by all sales regions – including the supposedly saturated markets in Northern, Western, and Central Europe.
Our growth region of the Middle East Africa continued its promising development, with our Turkish joint ventures Unifree Duty Free and ATU Duty Free performing strongly. We are very pleased that ATU has been awarded the duty-free concession for Antalya Airport. We are also happy with the results of our now 100 percent subsidiary JR-Heinemann in Israel. In terms of business, we have hardly any tourists there, but Israelis are traveling quite a lot.
With concession wins in India and Iceland and the start of operations in Saudi Arabia, we opened up new markets. We also strengthened our cruise business, becoming the retailer on Saudi Arabia's first cruise ship, the AROYA, which started operations in December, and celebrating the opening of our shop on the world's largest cruise ship, Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas, as well as on their newest ship, Utopia of the Seas.
Our outlook for 2025 and beyond is promising. We will continue to diversify our business portfolio across channels and regions, and we are already opening doors to do so.
