A total of 170 exhibitors from 34 countries presented their trends and innovations at Insights-X 2020 Online. Among them was Willy Heckmann GmbH & Co., a company that has been offering customers innovative products for packaging solutions for over 100 years. Its range covers a wide variety of packaging materials and machines for industrial users as well as products for the classic stationery and household sectors. In an interview, sales manager Kirsten Wilmsmann gives us insights about the company and her participation in Insights-X Online.
Willy Heckmann offers a wide range of packaging materials. What makes your products unique?
Kirsten Wilmsmann: We offer our customers innovative products that can be combined to form an integrated solution to optimise their packaging. We obtain almost 80% of our goods from quality suppliers who manufacture in accordance with our specifications and have to compete on the world market every day.
Our experience has shown us that we can offer our customers qualitatively mature products at unparalleled prices, above all by cooperating over the long term with suppliers. With our storage capacities at 3 sites in Germany, we are thus able to give our customers quick and reliable support.
You demonstrate that sustainability is an issue that is very close to your heart with your project ‘Love for the Environment’. How do you put the topic of sustainability into practice?
K. W.: Reducing our ecological footprint is a matter that’s close to our hearts. We took our first steps in spring 2020 by presenting sustainable products for the stationery and mail order sector. Our ‘Love for the Environment’ project was born, and together with our partners and colleagues we carried out ideas to produce existing articles in a more sustainable way and to live according to our love for the environment. Our focus is on high-quality and sustainable packaging solutions with the aim of benefiting the environment. Reducing packaging is an important goal!
Which innovations did you present during Insights-X Online?
K. W.: On the one hand, we presented our WIHEDÜ padded shipping bags made of FSC-certified paper. They can simply be disposed of in the wastepaper bin and recycled. The innovative padding does not require the use of plastics and provides effective protection for the contents.
And on the other hand, the WIHEDÜ flexible film mailing bags made of 80% PCR, which have Blue Angel certification. The opaque and tear-resistant bag is ideal for the logistics processes of the mail order business, for example to send online returns quickly and cleanly.
How successful was Insights-X Online for you? And were you able to acquire new customers during the one-to-one meetings?
K. W.: Considering it was the first time we had taken part in an online trade fair, we were quite satisfied. There were some interested contacts that made active use of the trade fair platform.
During the one-to-one meetings, we met some potential new customers. As with conventional expos, sales are usually generated only after the event. In this respect, the medium was very interesting when it came to acquiring new customers.
Insights-X 2021 will take place live on site in Nuremberg again. Are you already looking forward to it?
K. W.: Yes, of course! Online trade fairs are certainly of interest if you want to get an overview of the developments within an industry. But in our business, it makes more sense for both parties to be in a position to discuss an interesting product face-to-face, with the possibility for the customer to pick it up and experience it at first hand.
Many thanks for this interview, Kirsten Wilmsmann.
