Gebr. Heinemann

July 14, 2021

Gebr. Heinemann – new technology for tax free shops

Gebr. Heinemann, founded in 1879, has joined forces 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 – in the blink of an eye – in its airport stores around the world.

As a leading retail chain in the international travel market, Gebr. Heinemann has a constantly growing product range with international brands. Due to changing promotional activities and daily updated exchange rates, many price changes are required in the airport shops. Gebr. Heinemann has therefore implemented the Breece System – an automatic pricing solution from Delfi Technologies with Breece Electronic Shelf Labels (ESL).

The main reason for implementing the ESL solution was a specific currency situation that Gebr. Heinemann faced in Budapest.

With the use of ESL, we managed to save 1.3 million paper price tags in 2019, with 1.25 million in Budapest alone. At the same time, we have made the work of changing special offers and prices easier to handle.

Artem Engel, IT Consultant POS Solutions at Gebr. Heinemann

– In Budapest, Gebr. Heinemann decided to work with Euro as the store currency, as the Forint was underlying large variations. However, by law we were obliged to display prices in Forint. As the Euro was the main currency in our stores, one of the consequences was that prices in Forint changed every day according to the daily exchange rate. Therefore, we were looking for a solution that would allow us to easily update prices daily for a large number of products,” says Jennifer Faiss, Project Manager POS Solutions at Gebr. Heinemann.

ESL saves paper and minimizes effort for store staff

Gebr. Heinemann also decided to introduce the ESL system in other stores to display prices for specific promotions that are only valid for a short time frame. By doing this, Gebr. Heinemann could save paper and minimize effort for store staff because the ESL signs are automatically updated, while replacing paper price tags would cost time.

– In most stores, we use the ESL signs to display our special offers. In each of our stores we have a special offer where we display products that are part of a promotional activity for a defined time frame (usually 3 months). Every three months the products and prices in the special offer section change,” says Jennifer Faiss.

On the signs themselves, Gebr. Heinemann displays the following information:

Savings in percent
The campaign award
Product name and brand
Product type
Price per liter. / kg.
The barcode and GH number
Heinemann logo (depends on the size of the ESL)

In addition, Gebr. Heinemann uses a red background on the signs to create more awareness.

Innovative and leading technology

Gebr. Heinemann Duty Free & Travel Value stores, fashion brand stores and concept stores at international airports, as well as stores at border crossings and on board cruise ships. The ESL system has also been implemented in the recently opened stores at Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER), in the capital of Germany.

– Our newest store is in BER, the new airport in our capital, and here we will definitely use innovative technology and advanced products,” says Jennifer Faiss.

Integration to SAP ERP system

The ESL solution is integrated with SAP, the ERP system at Gebr. Heinemann. When item changes are made in SAP, the signs in the stores are automatically updated in real time.

– Setting a start date for each price in SAP ERP allows us to plan ahead for upcoming changes to special offers or price changes. On the defined start date, the ESL signs are updated with the new price without any additional manual effort, explains Artem Engel, IT Consultant POS Solutions at Gebr. Heinemann and continues:

– With the use of ESL, we managed to save 1.3 million paper price tags in 2019, with 1.25 million in Budapest alone. At the same time, we have made the work of changing special offers and prices to be displayed based on daily exchange rates easier to handle for our colleagues in the store.

The partnership between Gebr. Heinemann and Delfi Technologies

Gebr. Heinemann and Delfi Technologies have had a close partnership for many years. Artem Engel explains the partnership as follows:

– At Delfi we have dedicated and reliable contact persons who are very responsive and collaborative, helping us to solve any problem very quickly. They also proactively inform us about new opportunities and technologies that we can use to make the experience and operation of our stores easier. This is a great advantage for us and we are really happy with the good cooperation.

About Heinemann

Gebr. Heinemann is one of the largest retailers and wholesalers in the international travel retail market and a leader in the European market. It is the only family-run business among the global players in the travel retail industry. Gebr. Heinemann operates Duty Free & Travel Value stores, fashion brand stores under license and concept stores in international airports as well as stores at border crossings and on board cruise ships.