E-Commerce and Craft Beer

The craft beer industry has been slow to adapt e-commerce business models but the COVID-19 pandemic has forced breweries to adapt to new ways to sell their beers. Online distribution, especially direct-to-consumer (D2C), has always been a challenge in the craft brewing industry because of how regulated the alcohol industry is. The legal and tech issues are still being navigated and there is still a lot of complexity in the online D2C sale of craft beer, but there are some platforms becoming available to help facilitate those D2C transactions.

Drizly. Although Drizly focuses on alcohol retailers and not craft brewers, the company is considering working with brewers in the future. Right now, Drizly is focused on partnering with local alochol stores to serve online buyers with alcohol delivery. They use technology to verify age by scanning ID, an app for the delivery drivers to optimize routes, and are taking advantage of their data for market insights and reporting. Drizly has grown more that 350% in 2020 and holds the largest share of the North American e-commerce alcohol marketplace. Over the next 5 years, Drizly is expecting 20% of all off-premise alcohol sales to be transacted online, comparted to the 2% so far through 2020.

Tavour. Tavour is focused on the craft beer industry. They are currently working with independent brewers to bring craft beer from the breweries to the doors of customers. Because of the limited distribution for smaller brewers, it is normally difficult for craft beer enthusiasts to try certain beers because of geography. Tavour’s aim is to connect craft beer from everywhere with craft beer enthusiasts. Customers use an app to build a custom box of a variety of craft beers to be delivered to them. They also have a subscription option where it automatically sends customers the highest rated beers based on their taste.

Bevv. Bevv is an online platform where breweries can sell D2C. Bev differs from Tavour as it is not a retailer, just the platform the brewery uses for its e-commerce business. They offer end-to-end solutions for brewers as they take care of the pick up and delivery, label generation, reporting, and payment.

Bottlecapps. Bottlecapps is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company that is focused on the alcohol beverage industry. It’s a platform that helps businesses with wine and beer delivery. Instead of charging a fee or percentage like other platforms in this space, Bottlecapps charges a flat rate monthly fee with no transaction fees. Bottlecapps currently operates within 40 different states and is looking to expand into the Canadian market very soon.

TapRM. TapRM is a company that this blog has talked about already. It’s a beer distribution platform that is currently limited to New York City. They provide the tools and infrastructure to help breweries get their beer to their customers. It helps launch brands in new markets by providing the logistics for the e-commerce store, distribution, and delivery. It also tracks the customer data and shares that information back with the breweries to enable them to make better decisions

Want to read more: https://www.craftbrewingbusiness.com/featured/the-online-beer-sales-revolution-has-begun-get-to-know-these-key-platforms/