Executives from the international beauty industry came together last night at The Beauty Party in Cannes to recognize retail excellence with BW Confidential’s Beauty Retailer of the Year Award.
The Beauty Party took place at the Majestic Hotel in Cannes during the TFWA World Exhibition & Conference.
BW Confidential presented the Beauty Retailer of the Year Award to travel retail player Gebr Heinemann.
Inken Callsen, Chief Commercial Officer at Gebr Heinemann, accepted the Award at the event. She was joined on stage by Britta Hoffmann, Gebr Heinemann Global Commercial Director Beauty, for a discussion about the state of retail.
“Gebr Heinemann was chosen for its resilience, its long-term approach and its vision of turning travel time into valuable time,” commented BW Confidential Editor in Chief Oonagh Phillips.
Gebr. Heinemann, a key travel retail company, has put a strong focus on creating curated assortments, which means fewer mid‑tier brands, more clarity, and stronger anchors of luxury, niche, travel retail exclusives and accessible formats.
In beauty – a key category for the company, accounting for 41% of turnover – niche fragrances have become a strategic pillar and an important way of attracting younger consumers, while reinforcing Heinemann’s premium positioning.
The company has expanded its dedicated niche fragrance concepts and has also come up with innovative approaches to selling this category, such as the Olfactive Table, which showcases fragrances by olfactive families and helps travelers discover perfumes that reflect their tastes.
This summer, the travel retailer also inked a deal to bring trend-setting Australian beauty retailer MECCA to the duty-free channel at Sydney Airport – a move that brings a roster of new services and brands to Heinemann’s beauty line-up.
Another key reason for selecting Heinemann for the Award was the importance the company places on cultivating strong partnerships with suppliers, and its openness to new models based on shared value and shared risk, and where airports, brands, and retailers co-design the consumer journey.