"Heineken Export would like
to serve the market
more deeply by finding out
more about the operation
at the wholesale and
retail trade level."
analysis has already been conducted
in cooperation with our distributors
this year in Hong Kong, Taiwan,
Japan, Portugal and Poland. Next
year those countries will be followed
by the Canary Islands and Puerto
Rico, and a number of other coun
tries.
Once those new sources of
growth have been identified, it is a
matter of deriving maximum benefit
from them. "We are now studying
the drivers of growth and that, I feel,
is a very interesting next step. After
we identified volume opportunities
in the specific segments, we have to
use the most effective approach and
tools to grow our volumes. We will
have to look for an improvement in
sales operations, local distribution
techniques, merchandising excellen
ce and promotion effectiveness.
Together with the distributors we
want to build up a database in order
to know exactly how many outlets
per type we serve, compared to the
total market. By applying a standard
method of segmentation based on
outlet types we can in the near
future, for example, develop more
segment specific packaging formats
and more specific POS materials.
For instance Mexican style POS for
Mexican restaurants and pub style
POS for pubs instead of generic POS.
But the key factor will be an even
more intensive cooperation with our
distributors and a much tighter focus
on the fact based communication
between each other". This approach
reflects a further professionalisation
of the organisation, without compro
mising on the entrepreneurial spirit,
or the guts needed to take business
risks.
GROWTH
"The Heineken brand has a strong
potential to grow in many parts of
the world. Take China, for example:
that's an enormously challenging
market. A market in which we as
Heineken must have a presence. Our
China export organisation has built
up a solid position in the past years
for the Heineken brand, which
allows us for the future to grow in
one of the most interesting beer mar
kets in the world. Don't get me
wrong: I'm not suggesting that it
will be easy to build up a strong posi
tion there. But we will have to take
some risks; in China but also in, say,
Russia. Because of the downward
economic spiral there the market for
Heineken has not developed at the
pace we had expected. And yet we
have deliberately kept our Russian
office open. Our position there is dif
ficult, but once the economy picks up
again, we will be the ones who have
the upper hand because of our know
ledge of the market."
Insight and knowledge towards
improved channel management.
Those will be the crucial factors in
Heineken Export. In the forthcoming
decade. Even more so than today.
