GERMANY. Family-owned travel retailer and distributor Gebr. Heinemann has presented an updated vision and mission that will guide its future.
CEO Max Heinemann, who represents the fifth generation of the family, said his mandate was to rethink the company’s previous mission statement and to translate it for the future.
He said: “A new era of travel and thus travel retail has begun. The market is placing different demands on the travel industry than in the past. Digitalisation, sustainability targets and, last but not least, the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic have heralded these changes.
“Gebr. Heinemann has a clear vision for the future. Our willingness and ability to innovate has made us one of the most successful companies in the global travel market for over 140 years. We truly believe in this market and will continue to play a leading role in it. But today, more than ever, it’s about us actively shaping change – we will take what has made us strong into the new era and translate it for the future.”
Click above for a Gebr. Heinemann video outlining its updated mission
The vision
Under the heading ‘The Heinemann Family’, the company said: “We turn travel time into valuable time as the most human-centric company in global travel retail.”
It added: “As a family-run company, Gebr. Heinemann stands for human experiences in travel retail. It is important that travellers and business partners have a sense of this typical Heinemann personality – global, physical and digital.”
The guiding principles
Elaborating on its principles, the company stated: “The new vision forms the roof, so to speak, over everything that Gebr. Heinemann is planning for the future, everything the company does and thinks. But a roof must be supported by a foundation. The principles adopted by Gebr. Heinemann constitute this foundation.
“They reflect the company’s values ingrained in [its] history spanning more than 140 years. They provide orientation for all employees around the globe, guiding their actions. The principles that have been further developed are indicative of the new vision espoused by Gebr. Heinemann as it embarks on its future path.”
Family, trust, creating change and exciting people are among the core values upon which Gebr. Heinemann is to build its business in the next phase.
‘We are family’
The company stated: “We cultivate family values and act as we would like to be treated. We treat employees, partners and customers like part of our family. We value different characters and encourage individuality. Our unbureaucratic culture makes us fast and flexible.”
‘We live trust’
“We believe that successful entrepreneurship is based on trust. The people we work with can count on us, and we rely on them. We encourage initiative and drive and create freedom for entrepreneurial behaviour. Tolerance of mistakes is part of our culture. What matters is to learn from them and continuously improve.”
‘We create change’
“We are go-getters and want to shape the future of travel. We achieve this through close collaboration with our partners and customers, and with passion, courage and consistency. We do not rest on our laurels. We invest in the future and consider change an opportunity.”
‘We excite humans’
“We focus on humans and their needs. We are dedicated, we surprise and inspire them. We build long-term relationships and thus also ensure our success. We enjoy what we do and people feel it.”
Max Heinemann added: “Gebr. Heinemann is characterised above all by two key strengths. Our employees are our top strength. They leave their mark on the company day-in, day-out. Our employees make sure that our customers like to buy our products and that our partners value our services.
“Our second great strength is our utter focus on the needs of the traveller and the willingness and dedication to fully understand what shoppers want and expect from us as a travel retailer. This will enable us to offer travellers around the globe even more entertaining, inspiring and sustainable shopping experiences in the future.
“By effectively interconnecting these two strengths, we will turn travel time into valuable time as the most human-centric company in global travel retail. Our updated vision provides a long-term perspective for this.”
