SWEDEN. SAS Trading (SAST) has signed a co-operation agreement with fellow Swedish company Inflight Service, under which the latter will handle purchasing and distribution of merchandise for SAST’s airport shops.
Larger joint volumes will produce cost and logistical benefits, SAS Trading said. “SAS will thereby strengthen its market position and be able to focus on its core business,” it added.
The agreement assigns Inflight Service to conduct SAS Trading’s purchasing negotiations for fragrance & cosmetics, tobacco, alcoholic beverages and confectionary. Inflight Service will also handle the distribution of SAS’ complete product assortment, which includes the product areas of fashion, accessories and wine.
“The co-operation with Inflight Service enables us to focus time, energy and resources on our retail operation,” said SAS Trading President, Patric Sjöberg. “This is vital to further strengthening our competitive edge and to secure satisfied travellers. We will now concentrate on producing appealing product offers, an attractive product range and inspiring activities for different markets and consumer groups.”
The current storage operation in Copenhagen will be gradually relocated to Inflight’s warehouse facility at Helsingborg in Sweden during Autumn 2003. Large product volumes are shared with Inflight’s existing charter airline and ferry line customers, enabling efficient logistics and secure deliveries.
“We are looking forward to co-operating with SAS Trading. Inflight’s purchasing pool will handle SEK6 billion [US$753 million] in consumer value, which will provide great opportunities for optimising purchases and distribution and will also generate efficiency gains for both our customer and suppliers,” said Inflight Service managing director Peter Candell.
