SOUTH AMERICA: CONTINENT OF OPPORTUNITIES A Heineken Export explores continent South America. A continent of opportunities for Heineken, believes Regional Export Manager llco Schuringa. But the precondi tions have to be right. And over the past two years hard work has been done to get them right. Heineken's position in South America is still modest. Both the position of Heineken Beer and that of the com pany. One positive exception is form ed by Argentina, where Heineken has been brewed under licence for the past year by Quilmes, the brewery group in which Heineken has a 15% interest. Prior to that Heineken was obtainable as an imported beer. Thanks to the efforts of Quilmes and the presence of Dutchwoman Jacqueline Speek as Heineken marke ting manager, sales of the brand have increased sixfold over the past year! brand lacked relevance for the consumer. Heineken is something special, consumers agreed, but not so special that they were willing to pay four times more. The solution to this problem was simple yet effective: increase the relevance by reducing the price. So that means being satis fied with a lower profit margin. That tactic is gradually bearing fruit in countries like Argentina and Chile. Other markets will follow shortly. COLOMBIA One of those markets is Colombia. Heineken Export's Etienne Strijp is But Argentina is the exception, as Heineken Beer is not generally avail able in other South American coun tries. Mr Schuringa has a simple ex planation: "The image of Heineken is good. There's nothing wrong there. But the enormous import duties make it four times more expensive than local beer. The segment that you then operate in is too small to really build up a position." lWo years ago Heineken sent Paul Disch out to the export office in South America. He looked into the values of the Heineken brand for the consumer. Research showed that the based in Colombia where he will be building up the brand in three coun tries: Colombia, Peru and Ecuador. For the time being Mr Strijp is working from the premises of distributor Restrepo, as that will ensure that he is 'on top of the business' and can quickly learn the local situation. "Colombia, with a volume of 20 mil lion hectolitres, is what you call a big beer market. By far the greater part of that volume is mainstream beer. The premium segment amounts to 350,000 hi, which is less than 2% of the total beer market. In this seg- Etienne Strijp: "On-premise is the showcase for our brand"

Jaarverslagen en Personeelsbladen Heineken

World of Heineken | 1999 | | pagina 6