ice beers was one of the reasons why
the growth of Heineken in 1993 lag
ged behind expectations. Mel Sherwin
cannot see ice beers presenting any
danger over the long term, but he
does admit that the success of ice
beers has come at the wrong time:
"They all come and go, but the good
brands suffer because of the price
fighting. 1 am convinced, however,
that at a given moment the consumer
will have had enough of experi
menting with other types of beers and
will go back to basics. Which means
back to Heineken."
Brisbane
In Brisbane in the state of
Queensland the downward spiral in
which Heineken found itself has also
been halted and an increase in sales
was booked again last year. One of
the reasons for the higher sales in
Queensland is tourism. Particularly
the Gold Coast and Surfers Paradise
are popular holiday destinations for
both foreign tourists and Australians.
During the big recession Queens
land always operated somewhat out
of the wind and profited from the
recession in the other states. Many
inhabitants of New South Wales and
Victoria have fled the recession in
recent years by moving to Queens
land, another motive for moving
house being Queensland's pleasant
subtropical climate. Queensland is al
so a low tax state, which has brought
in more investment by business.
Just like in New South Wales the
boom in imported brands also occur
red in Queensland. Hundreds of
brands were put on the market in
Queensland. Today only a few are left
over.
Inchcape Liquor Marketing
Queensland is established in the
capital Brisbane. From this base every
effort is made to simulate sales of
Heineken Beer in the on premise out
lets. At the present time some 35% of
Heineken Beer goes to the on premise
outlets. But Graham Shonhan is not
satisfied with this level. "We want to
be more present in the on premise
outlets. That's the place where you
can create image. The off premise
outlets are there to create volume.
For 1994 we plan to devote more time
and energy to the on premise sector
by visiting more outlets."
The off premise sector in Queens
land differs strongly from that in the
rest of Australia. You won't find any
beer on supermarket shelves. The
hotel chains have been successful in
lobbying the Queensland government.
As a result, a law is in force that beer,
wines and strong liquor can only be
sold via hotels so as to protect the
hotel trade.
Bob Maag, second in charge at
Inchcape in Brisbane, explains: "Here
in Queensland we have three diffe
rent types of outlet. You have hotels
with their own bars. Then you have
the liquor barns and the detached
bottle shops. A liquor barn is a buil
ding next to the hotel in which the
hotel owner sells alcoholic drinks.
Often such a liquor barn consists of
two parts: a shop and a drive through
section where the customer can place
an order straight from the car. The
personnel then loads the orders in the
car. Lastly, you've got the detached
bottle shops. These shops, which are
also owned by hotels, are often found
in shopping centres. If there is a
supermarket in such a shopping mall,
this has a positive spin off effect on
the sales of such a bottle shop."
Perth
One city where Heineken is doing
well is Perth, the capital of Western
Australia. This state covers one-third
of the whole of Australia but has only
nine per cent of the total population
Some 1 million people live in
itself, with around 600,000 in the s;
rounding areas. Inchcape Li
Marketing in Perth has been b
since recently by Michael Stej
Previously state manager in W
Australia, he had since spent a
Melbourne in the same post,
now back in his old hunting grot§!
It took him a little while to
familiar with the market again. There
had been many positive changes
for Heineken during the year he
had been away. "In 1993 our
W O R 1. D
HEINEKEN
•Mill"
!d"i"
