Family firm
'We're a real family firm and we
work as a team', says De la Torre Jr.
'We visit the customers ourselves and
employ two people to handle the mer
chandising and organise the promo
tions. We like to maintain our own con
tacts with customers. And I don't only
talk to the owners but also to the staff of
such outlets. That's the way to keep in
touch with the market.'
The De la Torre family can also see
the decline in the economy that is hit
ting Gran Canaria. 'We need to empha
sise the island's other attractions, not
just sand, sea and sun. The islands of
Fuertaventura and Lanzarote were
quick to recognise that they had to stay
a little more up-market as regards
tourism. They're now attracting fewer
tourists as well, but the drop there is
much lower than on Gran Canaria.'
The rather gloomy economic
reports about the Canary Islands are
confirmed by the Dutch consul on Gran
Canaria, Joep Hezemans. Not only in
his official capacity as consul but also
in his daily work as a meat importer
Hezemans notes that 'things are get
ting tighter'. 'Don't forget that eighty
per cent of the people on Gran Canaria
gain their livelihood from tourism. If
the tourist spends less, the locals feel
the impact straight away.'
De la Torre Junior illustrates the
downturn in the economy by giving
one example. 'Car sales fell by 30% last
year. Importers of other consumer
goods are also facing a drop in sales
figures. Inflation is high: last year it
averaged 7.5% on the Canary Islands,
whilst the rate on the Peninsula (Spain,
ed.) amounted to 5.5%. Despite this,
sales of Heineken are still climbing.
The reason is not so much because
we're selling beer, but because we sell
a strong brand."
The increase in sales of Heineken
beer is mainly due to bottled sales.
Turnover of Heineken in bottles has
increased threefold in recent years.
'People buy a great many cans. We
have a share of over 60% in that market.
They buy canned beer because it is
convenient, but we have been pushing
bottled sales in recent years. And
we've been successful." The reason for
this change-over is the same as on Ten-
erife: raising the brand image.
Cool-box
Every summer De la Torre
organises a consumer promotion. A
Heineken cool-box, filled with 15 cans,
is offered for sale in the main super
markets. The supermarket owner only
pays for the cool-box and then sells the
cool-box together with the cans.
Biggest 25
Thirty wholesalers order
Heineken beer from De la Torre, after
which Heineken's Export Transport
Department sends the shipment direct
to the wholesale businesses. Las Pal-
mas is the biggest market for De la
Torre. That is not surprising, as the
capital city is the home of forty per cent
of the island's total population.
Some of the wholesalers specialise
in supplying goods to retail outlets.
Gran Canaria has 3,000 such outlets,
ranging from tiny shops to enormous
hypermarkets. Here, the retail trade is
even more important for Heineken
than on Tenerife, because sixty per
cent of the sales are achieved via the
home consumption channel.
Price maintenance
The problem of Tenerife (maintain
ing a minimum price) is even more
noticeable on Gran Canaria. The
Willem Oomen with his wife
Diny and Jürgen Schu
macher. The driving forces
behind the Heineken keg beer
operation on Gran Canaria.
Last year as many as 14,000 cool-
boxes plus contents were sold. To pro
mote bottled sales the cool-boxes were
then filled with bottles of Heineken
beer. 'And if we could have got our
hands on more cool-boxes we would
have sold those as well', explains
Adolfo de la Torre. 'El Corte Ingles, a
big chain of department stores in
Spain, sold 400 cool-boxes in Las Pal-
mas in just one day.'
wholesalers try to compete with each
other by using Heineken beer as the
stakes. It is vitally important that a
firm grip is kept on the resale price so
as to protect the Heineken brand over
the longer term. As long as that price
can be kept under control, the (sales)
climate on the Canary Islands will con
tinue to smile warmly on Heineken.
T H E WORLD OF HEINEKEN
