Duty-free owner Gebr. Heinemann takes a first step towards achieving its sustainability goals 2030 with sustainable product concepts on its online webshop and at the Berlin, Frankfurt, and Hamburg airports. The new concept, "future friendly: Great for you. Better for the planet," aims to address sustainability within travel retail. The concept targets both people who already shop consciously and those whose interest in sustainable consumption could be awakened.

“We are convinced that our industry succeeds in both: being commercially successful and at the same time making a social and ecological contribution," said Chief Commercial Officer Dr. Dirk Schneider. "With our new future-friendly concept, we take a further step towards more sustainability for shoppers in travel retail.”

In the initial phase, the focus is on sustainable packaging and materials. The merchandising criteria is based on four criteria: recyclable, recycled, refillable, or plastic free, with brands having to meet one of these requirements.

“Our claim is to be honest and transparent with the travellers. This also includes being able to prove the sustainability level of a product. To do this, we need measurable criteria and reliable data, which we check carefully," says Britta Hoffmann, Director Purchasing Perfume & Cosmetics at Gebr. Heinemann. "While we focused on sustainable packaging and materials to begin with, we will add further sustainability components to our 'future-friendly' standard as we proceed—first and foremost fair production and environmentally friendly ingredients.”

"By 2030, we will achieve more than half of our turnover through sustainable products and by working with responsible suppliers." In September, Gebr. Heinemann published its sustainable development goals in the third progress report for the United Nations Global Compact, of which it has been a member since 2018.

On the journey to more sustainability, Gebr. Heinemann attaches great importance to taking the shoppers in Travel Retail along with it. The launch of the new concept is accompanied by a survey in which all travelers can participate.

“With our survey, we want to analyze how and to what extent we catch the attention of travelers with 'future friendly: Great for you. Better for the planet.’ We want to find out whether they can understand that the concept is about sustainability—and specifically about environmentally friendly product packaging—and how much value they place on environmentally friendly packaging and materials," says Sarah Rughöft, Senior Strategy Manager Purchasing at Gebr. Heinemann. "In Travel Retail, we are a pioneer with our concept, and through the travelers we want to learn which sustainability criteria are particularly important to them.”