Hanse Distribution has secured its first listing at Frankfurt Airport. Source: Fraport AG

Inflight distribution specialist Hanse Distribution is widening its remit to include airport, cruise/ferry and downtown travel retail channels.

The hiring of Mariangela Pichierri, who joined the Hamburg-based firm in January, is designed to strengthen Hanse’s new route to market.

Pichierri is tasked specifically with developing Hanse’s product portfolio into the non-inflight duty free and travel retail channels.

Previously, she spent six years within Braun’s travel retail division, beginning in a sales support role before being promoted to project manager and most recently as Sales Manager Asia Pacific, Middle East and Inflight, where she implemented new retail solutions and expanded Braun’s footprint into China, Korea and India. 

Since joining, she has secured a first listing at Frankfurt Airport, where Hanse already enjoys a strong partnership with carrier Lufthansa.

Experienced industry executive Mariangela Pichierri is driving a new path for Hanse into airport, cruise/ferry and downtown travel retail.

AIRPORT PROJECT PIPELINE

In conversation with TRBusiness, Pichierri says Hanse enjoyed a successful TFWA Asia Pacific Exhibition & Conference in Singapore.

“We have had a very good response to our brands and products and great discussions during TFWA (Singapore),” she said.

“The strategy is to look into our entire portfolio, to contact different retailers – P&C, electronics, travel accessories – to show them that our brands and products perfectly fit into the travel retail environment.”

Adding her comments, Anna Berezhnaya, Sales Director, Hanse Distribution said: “We are delighted to welcome Mariangela into the Hanse Distribution family.

“We are confident that with Mariangela’s experience, passion for the industry and great personality we will have a lot of success. She has already started rolling out some projects with the airports, which we will announce later this year.”

Asked why Hanse has taken the tentative step of entering the non-inflight market now [it has been a question the company has received on numerous occasions over the years – Ed] Berezhnaya is frank: “Inflight is so challenging, plus we never had the capacity and there was no need.

“It is no news that inflight is tough; the airports are doing a totally outstanding job. When we started thinking about this and the opportunity, it was a perfect match for us. We are professionals inflight, we know very little about airports and Mariangela does. It is perfect timing.”

At present, the idea is to expand Hanse’s supply footprint into non-infight channels through timed and focused investment, with the cruise and ferry channel also offering ‘great potential’ for expansion, comments Picchieri.

Lufthansa remains an important customer for Hanse Distribution.

INFLIGHT ON THE RISE

The inflight market itself appears to be reviving, with preliminary research from Generation on behalf of TFWA pointing towards growth of +4.2% to $2.6bn in 2017.

However, the channel’s share of total sales still lags well behind other shops ($25.5bn) and airports ($38.3bn).

“Inflight is doing better this year so far than we have expected – we’ve had to adjust our offering to the airlines, pushing us to search for unique products with different concepts and impulse purchases onboard that you cannot find in domestic (markets),” said Berezhnaya.

Made in Germany brands with a focus on nature, sustainability and wellness is a particular focus for Hanse, says Pichierri, which in turn is of particular appeal to the Chinese market.

Affordability and provenance in its product selection also remains important, which Hanse says tallies with demands from retailers and airport operators.

One such example is the recent introduction of Bracenet, a bracelet fashioned from the so-called ‘ghost’ fishing nets that cause irreparable harm to millions of sea creatures every year.

Click here to read an exclusive interview with Hanse Distribution Managing Director Nikolas Hogrefe on re-balancing the inflight product mix to countenance declining prices and passenger interest.