Murphy's in town!
Heineken establishes contacts during
Consumexpo in Moscow
16
Expatriates working in the Gulf states are known as great lager fans.
Particularly Heineken and Amstel beers sell well in the small Gulf states of
Bahrain, Dubai, Oman and Abu Dhabi. Recently, however, Murphy's Irish
Stout was introduced in Bahrain and Abu Dhabi. And with great success.
Nine pubs in Bahrain and six pubs
in Abu Dhabi have had a Murphy's
dispenser installed on the bar counter
since February this year and sales are
remarkably high, says area export
manager Ilco Schuringa. 'We were
expecting the first shipment to last us
several months, but only one week
after the launch we had to place a
second order with Murphy's Brewery
in Ireland.'
The introduction in Bahrain and
Abu Dhabi should be seen as a test. If
the results remain positive over the
longer term, the project will also be
extended to include Dubai and Oman.
Schuringa emphasises that this is a
'niche market'. In the Gulf the market
share for stout is 3% and is stable to
slightly growing. Murphy's Irish Stout
is the only stout brand available on
draught.
Murphy's is imported for the Gulf
states by Gray MacKenzie, which is
already market leader with the
Heineken and Amstel brands.
Paddy's Bar is one of nine pubs in Bahrain with a Murphy's dispenser. From left, Tony Mclver, on-trade manager Bahrain, Martin Hard,
Wine Spirits manager BMMI, Michaela Sheen, promotions and merchandising coordinator BMMI, James Lawless, general manager Al
Hambra Hotel and owner of Paddy's Bar, and Ilco Schuringa, area export manager Heineken. In the background, the two barkeepers of
Paddy's Bar: Johnson and Balaji.
In mid-January the Consumexpo
'92 was held in Moscow. This exhibi
tion, Moscow's biggest for consumer
goods, was a good opportunity for
Heineken to present the company and
its products in a stand shared with
several other businesses such as Bols
and Douwe Egberts.
Participation in the consumer fair
also provided an ideal chance to es
tablish contacts with new customers.
The break-up of the Soviet Union into
independent republics has brought a
drastic change in the situation for
businesses like Heineken. Central
buying organisations, which formerly
worked for the entire Soviet Union,
have now seen their field of opera
tions restricted to the Russian Federal
Bepublic. In other republics, also
those which are united within
the Commonwealth of Independent
States, new businesses have emerged.
During the fair they revealed great
interest in Heineken.
The political sea-change in Russia
has not yet led to new sales areas for
Heineken. For the time being only the
hotels and hard currency shops will
sell Heineken beer, since the econo
mic situation and the low purchasing
power in the republics form obstacles
to wider-scale distribution.
THE WORLD OF HEINEKEN
