Have Beer Wholesalers Lost Their POS Groove?

At this year’s NBWA Convention and Trade Show in Las Vegas, Boston Beer’s Jim Koch gave an interesting talk. While we were not able to catch it live, we received the highlights via “nefarious back channels” and found much of what he said interesting.

While Mr. Koch talked about the widely reported slippage in beer sales recently, we found his suggested solutions most informative. Specifically, he spoke about the importance of local market execution, and even more specifically, POS marketing.

He shared a recent sales success story for one of their brands:

“Significant national advertising” had a role, he acknowledged, but “the real source of success” came from “old school, grassroots bar by bar selling on the street.”

“We used point of sale, which has sort of gone by the wayside over the last 20 years, but we had simple point of sale, basically a metal tacker and a neon, and we did something revolutionary — we got them up. They didn’t ride around in anybody’s trunk for three months and then get thrown away. They got put up.”

“We did it in consultation with our wholesalers because you guys are the experts of what’s going to work in your local market.”

And that’s a key point. Wholesalers know their markets, they know what works. And point of sale marketing is one of the most useful tools in their kit.

He also touched on how things have changed in recent years.

“You don’t see wholesalers’ salespeople walking into off-premise accounts with POS under their arm,” he continued, “The brand building capabilities that beer wholesalers have always excelled at have been cut over the last 10 or 15 years to reduce costs, increase margin. I think it might’ve gone too far.”

And that’s no one’s fault.  Business trends sometimes take on a life of their own; and carry on simply by momentum.

But Boston Beer’s success story reminds us of the importance of local execution – and the importance of POS marketing at retail. A final comment from Mr. Koch:

“But it builds on my belief that beer needs to return to market-by-market brand building, where wholesalers have real participation and control in the spending that happens.”

 

If you’d like to get your POS “groove” back, we have tools that can help. Software designed specifically to track, measure & manage POS marketing.  We’d be happy to schedule a quick conversation to discuss your POS challenges, needs and goals. Please reach out below…