One Blog |January 9, 2018 | Point-of-Sale Marketing
Beverage Suppliers: Choose Beverage Alcohol Distributors Who Offer These “Four Things”
Denis Clark
A Note to Beverage Suppliers of All Types- New and Old
Regardless of the type of beverage you manufacture, always choose beverage alcohol distributors to distribute your brands. That’s our experience.
Especially those who offer the “Four Things” listed below which are designed to help you grow your retail business.
The Ante — Product Knowledge
Product knowledge has always been important for beverage distributors — even back when there were fewer than 50 different products available from your local beer, wine and spirits distributor.
Today, however, when the number of products offered by some beer, wine and spirits distributors can be more than 50,000 brands, product knowledge is vital.
The best beverage alcohol distributors know the products they represent and they are happy to provide their customers (the retailers) with product education designed to give them the knowledge they need to help inform and educate shoppers.
Beverage World Recognition
A number of years ago we were invited to a Beverage World annual industry conference where they were recognizing top companies across the beverage industry, not only beverage alcohol.
We were in the running for the Best New Product. The odds of a software company, like OnTrak, winning at a beverage conference was a long-shot, but it was a good opportunity for us to get our name “out there”. And we did.
We sat at a table with other nominees, one of whom was in the running for the category of Best New Beverage. They won their category!
The company that won was a new beverage company named ‘BAI’. (http://www.drinkbai.com/)
We had a conversation with their President. As is typical of new companies in the market, this man had been selling his beverages to distributors out of the trunk of his car.
He was hoping to sign up as many distributors as possible, but he said when he went into a market, he would tend to focus first on beverage alcohol ("bev-alc") distributors. This was because they, unlike other non-alcohol ("non-alc") distributors, were “experts at local point-of-sale (POS) marketing”.
His opinion, for his products, was that "non-alc" distributors were simply movers of product from point A to point B. He also said, that his chances for success were greater when he signed up a beer distributor.
This was because beer distributors typically had their own “sign shops”. In addition, their reps didn’t need to be trained in the ways of “product, price, placement and POS”. They did it automatically.
He said he did have to provide some graphical support (images and fonts) and an advertising allowance, but he knew the beer distributors would get him significantly more exposure than “juice, CSD, teas and other "non-alc" beverage wholesale distributors.”
OnTrak’s experience with over ten years of working closely with beverage alcohol distributors is this:
If you are planning to enter the beverage market with a new product, or if you are trying to expand your brand presence in that market, take a closer look at beverage alcohol distributors.
They truly get sales and marketing at a different level.
Here Are the Four Things
In our opinion there are “Four Things” that define a Great Distributor!
1. Extensive product knowledge
2. Very-high service level
3. Timely delivery, and
4. Point-of-sale (POS) marketing and promotional materials designed and provided to attract and convert shoppers into buyers.
These are the “services” all beverage distributors should provide to their suppliers as well as their customers, the retailers.
When you find a great distributor (one who provides these “Four Things”), stick with them.
Working with these beverage alcohol distributors will benefit your customers, your business, and you.
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If you’re interested in learning more about how OnTrak Software helps beer, wine and spirits wholesalers determine the impact of their investment in POS marketing campaigns, please call 513-936-4041, or click the following button:
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