The former royal palace
attracts many tourists
each year.
A former guardhouse
next to the entrance has
been converted into a
small but elegant
Heineken bar.
Emulation
Following the political sea-
change, the Polish government deci
ded to aim for a radical transfor
mation from a centrally planned eco
nomy to a free-market economy. This
radical about-turn is placing a heavy
burden on the daily lives of the peop
le. Inflation is extremely high, costs
are climbing and, financially, it's
almost sink or swim for many Poles.
The Poles who are blessed with
great business acumen still find
themselves best off. They want to and
can afford to emulate Western life
styles, they drive a Western make of
car, buy Levi jeans and drink
Heineken beer. This is the group of
consumers that Marc Elenbaas wants
to reach.
Restaurants, bars and (inter
national) hotels are the outlets that
are visited by the DDC reps. Elenbaas
applies no clear-cut selection criteria
when choosing outlets: "The price of
roads which are also used by tractors
and horse-drawn carts. Elenbaas also
sees benefits in working 011 the basis
of smaller areas. "It's better for the
sales of Heineken to have distributors
with good contacts, even if the region
in which they operate is relatively
small."
At the office of DDC in Warsaw
there are six employees in total. Marc
Elenbaas is assisted by his wife
Karina, whose responsibilities include
invoicing, a lady who works part-time
keeping the books, a chauffeur and
two representatives, Marek Wojtyna
and Woitek Bloch. Warsaw is their
sales district.
Elenbaas has found from expe
rience that it's not easy to find
personnel with a commercial frame
of mind. Know-how and experience of
commercial matters are in very short
supply in Poland and Elenbaas feels
he is fortunate that he now employs
two representatives who speak
English, who have also worked a-
broad and are acquainted with the
Western way of working and getting
things done. Marek spent more than
two years in New York where he
worked in the borough of Brooklyn.
"Anyone who can make it in New
York can make it anywhere. Which
means here in Poland as well." That's
his simple message. He's convinced
that Heineken will do well in Poland
in the years ahead. "This phase is still
tough, we're putting in long days
chasing after new customers. But I'm
absolutely certain that we can score
with Heineken."
Heineken beer leads to a sort of
natural selection. Some outlets feel
that Heineken beer is much too
expensive for their clientele and so
they don't want it." The high price of
Heineken is largely attributable to the
high level of taxes. Import duties
amount to 30% and on top of those
comes a further 150% turnover tax.
Marc Elenbaas chats to a bar owner who is doing good business with
sales of Heineken on Warsaw's main market square. This square is one
of the tourist magnets of Poland's capital.
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