Page 26 - TFWA World Exhibit 2024 Special Edition

INSIDER

Heinemann Americas opened 14 stores onboard
Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas, the world’s
largest cruise ship, earlier this year.
The stores offer an exclusive selection of Royal
Caribbean branded logo merchandise, in
addition to fine watches, fine & fashion jewelry,
spirits, perfumes & cosmetics, and vintage
luxury leather goods and watches.
Strategically positioned throughout the ship,
the stores are found in key areas like the vibrant
Royal Promenade, the picturesque Central
Park, and the family-friendly Surfside. These
retail spaces offer more than just shopping; they
provide guests with immersive Retailtainment
experiences.

Utopia of the Seas – the second largest
cruise ship in the world --which sails out
of Port Canaveral on three- and four-night
cruises.
“We are currently running the retail
concessions on five Royal Caribbean
vessels, including Icon and Utopia, the
biggest ships in the world. We were able to
establish a very efficient retail business that
we run with a lean but powerful team,” said
Hoeborn.

Expanding into F&B
In a third critical milestone for the
company, Heinemann Americas entered the
F&B supply in January this year, providing
key liquor brands to NCL.
A myriad of supply services Retail operations “This was a great win for us as it
Heinemann was able to leverage its In a major milestone for the company, meant we were diversifying our business.
distribution expertise to establish a foothold Heinemann Americas is now also running We supply Bacardi and some other spirits
in the Americas market when it first the retail operations on five cruise ships. brands for pouring onboard. Volumes in
arrived, primarily through its relationship The breakthrough came in 2018, when F&B are high and the cruise ships have
with MSC Cruises and Harding+. While the company won the concession contract big, exciting events, especially on the
MSC handles its shipboard retail operations for four Carnival Cruise ships – unveiling pool decks,” explains Hoeborn, adding
in-house, Heinemann started supplying key a whole new look for the concessions that the company is now in conversations
categories locally for the company. onboard the Carnival Liberty later that with Royal Caribbean and Carnival to
Heinemann continues to collaborate year. In 2019, the company also began further grow the F&B business. “This is
with these key customers and has been able working with Royal Caribbean – and in an important part of our strategy in the
to extend its customer portfolio further. a huge coup won the retail concession Americas.”
In total, Heinemann Americas is onboard Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the
currently supplying more than 50 cruise Seas—the world’s largest cruise ship to Evolving the business
ships in the Americas with distribution date – where it opened 14 retail venues Looking at how the business has
services. All build on the human-centric, earlier this year. In July, Heinemann evolved over the past decade, Hoeborn sees
partnership driven approach of Gebr. Americas unveiled the retail concession the expansion into retail, first with Carnival
Heinemann onboard Royal Caribbean’s brand new in 2018 and then with Royal Caribbean

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