GERMANY. Frankfurt Airport operator Fraport’s joint venture (JV) with travel retailer Gebr Heinemann has made home delivery an option for travellers who purchase goods through the airport’s online marketplace.
The Frankfurt Airport Retail (FAR) JV was announced at the end of 2016. In the first big digital move since the alliance was formed, passengers with a ticket from Frankfurt to an EU destination can purchase items online from the Heinemann Duty Free & Travel Value range, and have them delivered.
Goods can only be shipped within Germany, and the service does not carry extra delivery costs during the introductory stage. Gebr Heinemann said customers can order as often as they like, as many as 90 days before their scheduled departure.
The 50-50 JV deal resulted in FAR taking control of Frankfurt Airport’s 27 duty free and travel value stores from 1 January 2017. Improving the airport’s e-commerce capability has been a key target since its inception. FAR is the first partner that Fraport has integrated into its online marketplace.
Gebr Heinemann first announced a move into home delivery in 2014 via its own website and the Heinemann & Me loyalty programme. This is the first time that the retailer has tied up with an airport for home delivery through online orders.
In a joint statement, FAR Managing Directors Johannes Sammann and Georg Fuhrmann said: “The integration of our special pre-order and home-delivery services strengthens our competitiveness in the travel retail market.
“It also enriches the shopping experience of travellers via Frankfurt and increases sales.”
Gebr Heinemann and Fraport launched the joint project for an online marketplace in 2015 in response to growing consumer demand for digital services.
Fraport operates the online marketplace and acts as an intermediary between passengers and participating airport retailers. Gebr Heinemann has helped to develop and implement processes and functions between the retailer and the marketplace.
Gebr Heinemann Head of Digital Commerce Markus Knauer described this week’s home delivery development as an “important milestone” for the retailer’s digital strategy.
“From now on, the delivery service from Heinemann can be offered in third-party webshops, automatically processed by our IT systems and executed by our logistics department,” he added.
“As a result, we are expanding our range of services for our business partners by adding a further facet with a view to the end customer.”
*Fraport’s ambitious digital strategy, and the implications for travel retail, were outlined in an outstanding presentation by Executive Vice President Multi-Channel Kai Schmidhuber at last year’s Trinity Forum in Mumbai.
