al dispenser installations are being
maintained.
Ben Winters adds a note of cau
tion: "We are fairly reticent as regards
installing draught dispenser units.
Only if we are sure that the ships will
return regularly to the port of
Rotterdam are we prepared to fit a
draught beer installation. If they re
turn at regular intervals, then we can
carry out service and maintenance. If
we cannot provide the best possible
service, then we will not install a cel
lar beer or keg beer system."
Soft drinks
The results of the non alcohol
beer Buckler ('is coming along well')
and of Murphy's Irish Stout ('a suc
cessful seller on draught') are further
causes of satisfaction for Ben Winters.
Duty Free also has soft drinks in its
range. "Duty Free is one of the big
gest sellers of soft drinks within
Heineken Export. Our customers are
satisfied, as they can order a complete
product range from us. We are seeing
that the growth in soft drinks is keep
ing pace with the growth of beer."
valued several times have made
Heineken Beer expensive for many
consumers and we are now witness
ing a decrease in Heineken sales in
line with the overall market", says
Ben Winters.
None the less he views the future
of Heineken on the ferries with opti
mism. "The expectation is that ferry
traffic world-wide will increase by a
further five per cent over the next two
years. That also applies to the cross-
Channel ferries. The shipping lines
expect that the ferry business will
continue to account for a substantial
proportion of traffic from and to the
United Kingdom." For Heineken,
therefore, it is essential to keep con
centrating strongly on this segment of
the duty free market.
The fact that the ferries are an
important sales market for Heineken
Duty Free is demonstrated by the cel
lar beer installations which have been
fitted by Heineken in a number of the
bigger vessels. All dispensers on
board the ship are connected up to a
number of 1,000-litre tanks, which
eliminates the need for keg handling.
On the smaller ferries the convention-
Asia
The Heineken company has set its
sights very emphatically on Asia for
further growth in the coming decade.
And Heineken Duty Free is no excep
tion to this. "I see great opportunities
for Duty Free in, say, a country like
China. In Singapore we already have
two duty free sales staff on the payroll
and a special man for duty free will
shortly be stationed in the Hong Kong
office. Particularly the cruise ships
and the airlines are segments in
which we can still score good results
in the Far East", explains Ben
Winters.
In Asia, too, the emphasis in sales
activities will be placed on Heineken
Beer. According to Ben Winters, this
is no surprise. "There are no borders
for the activities of Duty Free. It is a
broad international segment and so
Heineken is the most suitable becau
se it is the world's most international
brand. But the other products are also
performing well. A brand like Amstel,
for example, is doing well in the Gulf
and we are booking successes with
Amstel Light on the cruise ships in
the Caribbean. We owe that success
in part to the product's success in the
United States."
Last year Heineken Duty Free said
farewell to the stubby, a short, com
pactly-built bottle which had been
used solely for duty free purposes in
recent decades. As part of the effi
ciency improvement and the striving
to achieve a premium image for the
brand, it was decided to replace the
stubby by the 33 cl bottle. The Duty
Free customers, says Ben Winters, re
sponded very positively to the switch.
"They feel that the new bottle is
friendly and has a generous look and
it has clearly gained their preference."
1 H K WORLD OF HEINEKEN
