If you are the owner of a brewery, you probably already know the many struggles of distribution. Once you get past the initial stages of opening your brewery, establishing your craft beer and discovering unique blends, you begin to shift your focus to enlarging your distribution outreach.
However, this can be daunting for breweries just beginning to explore direct-to-consumer (DTC) distribution. Here are some helpful insights to help you decide whether or not your brewery is genuinely ready for DTC.
Build a Loyal Audience
Before you start considering DTC distribution, you need to focus on building a loyal customer base. Marketing is a significant aspect of this process. It is not just crafting popular products that sell initially; maintaining a consistent and growing audience is another matter entirely.
The good news is marketing your brewery is much easier in today’s high-tech world than it once was. Social media and website design platforms make it easy to streamline a daily marketing strategy that elevates customer interaction. Spreading word throughout the community effectively creates a loyal audience, fostering an environment for further national relationships between the buyer and your brewery.
How It Was Done In the Past
In the past, on-site purchasing and traditional distribution networks were the only routes for consumers to obtain their favorite beer. This made things difficult, narrowing the channel for consumers, crafters, and distributors alike. Additionally, there was always a more significant gap or disconnect between breweries and their customer base.
Lack of Transparency and Control
Furthermore, this past model established a middle-man between breweries and consumers, making it hard to control the transit of products. As a result, a lack of transparency regarding the transportation of craft beers made it difficult for breweries to control every aspect of their products’ distribution. Beers left in hot transportation trucks could taste significantly different than beers transported in properly cooled vans. As a brewery owner, the past model made it hard to maintain a 100% quality control guarantee. Therefore, direct-to-consumer (DTC) fulfillment took over rapidly.
The Direct-to-Consumer Model
Currently – and in the wake of COVID-19 – online direct-to-consumer shopping is the norm. Small-scale breweries can now efficiently distribute using this new model and cultivate authentic relationships with their consumers. However, the DTC model does not come without challenges, making it worthwhile for breweries to consider before jumping fully into direct-to-consumer operations.
Reliable Fulfillment is Key
The challenge to brewers is now finding a fulfillment partner to trust.
Wineshipping is the fastest, most accurate, and most cost-efficient delivery network for wine, beer, spirits, and more. With over two decades of industry experience, we have become the US’s largest and most sustainable network.
Our warehouses are equipped with temperature and humidity control and are placed near your consumers for fulfillment that’s both cheap and fast. By optimizing across our 15 warehouse sites, you can reach up to 99.2% of US consumers within two days from order placement to delivery, with 58% eligible for next-day delivery.
Packaging is critical for craft brewers, as is ensuring brand presence from order placement to unboxing. Wineshipping offers best-in-class packaging to delight your consumers and give them an experience they won’t soon forget. Our packaging and service guarantees give you the peace of mind to keep doing what you do best.
DTC is the future of craft beer, and it is time for breweries to make the switch and Winshipping can help small-scale breweries transition to a DTC model effortlessly.
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