Gebr. Heinemann - new technology for duty free shops
Electronic price tags at the airport
Gebr. Heinemann, founded in 1879, has teamed up with the IT company Delfi Technologies to ensure a high level of productivity in the international airport shops. By introducing electronic shelf labels, Gebr. Heinemann can change prices and product information immediately in its airport shops all over the world.
As a top retailer on the international travel retail market, Gebr. Heinemann has a product range of international branded goods that is constantly growing. Due to alternating promotional activities and daily updated exchange rates between currencies, many changes of prices and product information are required in the airport shops. Heinemann has therefore implemented Breece System – an automatic pricing solution from Delfi Technologies with electronic shelf labels (ESL).
The main driver to implement an ESL solution was a specific situation that Gebr. Heinemann was facing with currencies in its outlet Budapest.
"In Budapest, we, as Gebr. Heinemann, decided to work with Euro as shop currency since Forint was underlying big variations. However, by law, we were required to display prices in Forint. Since Euro was the main currency in our shops, one of the consequences was that the prices in Forint were changing each day according to the daily exchange rate. Therefore, we were looking for a solution that allows us to easily update prices on a daily basis for a huge number of products," says Jennifer Faiss, Project Manager POS Solutions at Gebr. Heinemann.
ESL saves paper and minimizes effort for shop staff
Gebr. Heinemann also decided to introduce the ESL system in other outlets to display the prices for specific promotions that are only valid for a short time frame. By doing so, Gebr. Heinemann saves paper and minimizes the effort for its shop staff because the ESL displays automatically get updated while exchanging paper price tags would cost time.
"In most of our outlets, we use the ESL displays to indicate our Special Offer Prices. In each of our shops, we have a Special Offer section where we display products that are under a promotional activity for a defined time frame (usually 3 months). Every three months the products and prices in the Special Offer Section are changing", says Jennifer Faiss.
On the display itself, Gebr. Heinemann is displaying:
- The saving in percentage
- The promotional price
- The product name and brand
- The type of product
- The price per liter / kilogram
- The barcode and GH number
- The Heinemann logo (depending on the size of the ESL)
Additionally, Gebr. Heinemann is using a red background on the ESLs to create more attention.
Innovative state-of-the-art technology
In international airports, Gebr. Heinemann operates Duty Free & Travel Value Shops, fashion label boutiques and concept stores as well as shops at border crossings and onboard cruise ships. The ESL system has also been implemented in recently opened shops in Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER), in the capital of Germany.
"Our newest outlet is in BER, the new airport in our capital city, and we definitely wanted to use innovative technology and state-of-the-art products", says Jennifer Faiss.
Integrated to SAP ERP system
The ESL solution is integrated with SAP, which is the ERP system at Gebr. Heinemann. By making any changes for items in SAP, the displays in the shops get updated automatically in real-time.
"Setting a start date for each price in SAP ERP gives us the opportunity to plan upcoming changes of special offers or price changes some time ahead. On the defined start date, the ESL will then be updated with the new price without any additional manual effort," explains Artem Engel, IT Consultant POS Solutions at Gebr. Heinemann.
