Heineken Polska perseveres
difficult market
installation. Two years ago there was
a very high demand from outlet
owners for dispenser installations
because of great consumer demand.
That demand has meanwhile slacken
ed off and Heineken Polska has decid
ed thai a dispenser installation will
only be placed in those outlets which
have a good location and an adequate
sales volume. Next to Heineken and
Buckler, Murphy's Irish Stout was
also introduced in a number of these
r Ihe biggest change for Marc
Elenbaas, managing director of
Dutch Distribution Centre, was
when DDC ceased to exist and
Heineken Polska was set up. Elenbaas
changed employers but stayed at his
post in Warsaw; over the years, in
fact, he had built up a very much
needed store of know-how and mar
ket experience. That expertise is still
crucial to the positioning of the
Heineken brand in Poland. The Polish
Two years ago Heineken Polska was still known
as DDC. The World of Heineken then reported on
how things were progressing in Poland. Time for
an update, as quite a few changes have taken
place in the meantime.
beer drinker is well-known for the
pride he takes in local brews and he
sees little reason to change over to
the expensive lager imported from
Holland. Besides, beer in Poland is a
highly seasonal product. Only during
the summer period and in the weeks
before Christmas can a substantial
volume of sales be achieved.
Distribution has been strongly
improved compared to two years ago.
In the capital of Warsaw Heineken
Polska has meanwhile achieved dis
tribution in all potentially attractive
accounts. Recently Heineken Polska
made an inventory of all the
Heineken outlets with a dispenser
Managing Director
Marc Elenbaas.
Distribution
"Priority number one for us is still
distribution", says Marc Elenbaas. As
was the case two years ago, the situ
ation in Poland is still that a natural
selection takes place of outlets which
include Heineken Beer in their range.
The eight representatives who
now work for Heineken Polska (as
compared to two reps two years ago)
concentrate their sales activities
mainly on the big cities, such as
Warsaw, Gdynia, Szczecin, Poznan,
Bydgoszcz and Krakow. Disposable
income in the rural areas is too low to
create opportunities for the relatively
expensive Heineken Beer.
THE WORLD OF HEINEKEN
