Like many sectors, the sale and consumption of wines, beers and spirits this year has been radically different. On trade has plummeted as bars and restaurants have been forced to close either temporarily or permanently, and primary off-trade opportunities to sell reduced by lower footfall but increased demand for online services.
Direct to consumer (DTC) and online B2B sales have been fast-tracked in many businesses to carve out new customers in the pursuit of growth. This does result in new challenges not seen in this space before - the mixed cases and “consumer” facing units that customers buy (bottles or cases, not 9LE units!), smaller order values and individual returns. A business set up with a multi-platform offering will have the greatest chance of success to service both ends of the customer profile - occasional, low volume individual customers to high volume business customers. Businesses success in embracing this trend will have a significant impact on turnover and customer acquisition.
Other trends that are influencing this sector and the ability to return to growth next year and beyond include:
Consumption trends
Reportedly we are drinking less, but are choosing more premium brands; the drive for healthy and low/no options has driven innovation in this space; and stylish, innovative packaging is attracting new audiences. This affects the demands against the inventory from the manufacturer and distributors/wholesalers.
Insight from social listening can help businesses stay ahead of the curve on trends and give the producer and distributors an edge over their competitors.
Added value expectations
When individuals are purchasing online for their business, it is akin to a familiar online shopping environment, and with it comes the expectations as to how they are communicated with.
Testing content and language in marketing and fulfilment messages can have a significant impact on sentiment and likely return rate.
Millennial takeover
Millennials are now leading in jobs where the digital expectation is much greater than historically seen in this sector, as they are choosing to engage and spend money with the brands who meet their expectations.
Developing digital offerings that meet the expectations of the new decision-makers will help drive growth amongst new audiences.
Keeping abreast of changes in technology to secure and retain customers:
A lot of the tech that is spoken about tends to be inventory management which can be more complex in this sector with rotation numbers, use-by dates, don’t use before dates etc. Interestingly the focus here is managing the product.
We would also advocate staying abreast of the customer management tech to put the customer at the heart of the processes which is hugely important in growing customer value.
Are you seeing these trends in your business? Please do get in touch with other interesting patterns you are seeing - we can help you use data to understand and embrace them to drive growth.
How we used data to deliver growth for one of our clients
Working with a wholesaler who started their business in the wine sector, we observed how approaching growth with a data mindset could identify hidden opportunities not previously identified by our B2B client. Some of the learnings and why they are relevant to this sector are explained below.
Identifying macro opportunities
Quantifying the sales funnel to identify gaps and opportunities for growth enabled the wholesaler to prioritise their focus areas from filling the top of the funnel, to re-engaging lapsed customers. Understanding the numbers behind each stage of the funnel is incredibly valuable and can allow you to start looking at different scenarios e.g. if we increased investment in acquisition activity by X, the downstream impact would be Y.
Leveraging customer insight
By understanding the customer composition (firmographics, value to the business, purchase behaviours etc) the wholesaler was able to determine who needed greater support, who was likely to buy again and in which product lines to drive account managed services, personalised and relevant email campaigns and dynamic content online. This taps into the buyer’s expectations and the customer experience your brand is able to deliver.
Generating efficiencies
As mentioned above, tech focus in wholesalers tends to be on inventory management. Implementing a consolidated data landscape to provide a single and complete customer view provides the ability to query and support customers more efficiently. Implementing a combined CRM + Marketing Automation platform delivered further efficiencies as all members of the business were then drawing on one version of the truth and could ensure the best experience was delivered to the customer without hours of manual processing.
If you are looking to pursue growth and are unsure how to get the best out of the data in your business, do get in touch via www.wearemojo.co.uk for a free discovery call. We are confident that we can give you at least one idea on how to use data in your business to drive growth.
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