The new way to sell beer

Today’s business customers have grown used to a world of digital services crafted around their needs. In banking, we’ve seen high street branches replaced by new, agile, digital banks. In transport, we’ve seen taxis replaced by on-demand transportation services. The need to digitally transform is a mandate for all industries, but some industries have been slower to adapt than others.

The trade beer industry has and always will be built on strong relationships. Yes, customers buy from breweries that make good beer but ultimately they buy from who they like and trust. Over the last few years, the number of independent UK breweries has passed 2200, surging over 75%. Now, with more breweries than ever looking to sell their beer, we’re seeing the old, analogue brewery sales channels, fracture and breakdown.

When Chris Drummond, founder of Good Things Brewing (GTB) came to us in August 2019, we were given an insight into the archaic and inefficient processes used for direct trade sales. We learned that the once fruitful direct sales channels — phone and email — are now over-saturated, fatigued and ineffective. Where Gen X buyers may prefer the handheld experience that a sales rep can provide, today’s millennial buying managers, who now make up 73% of B2B buyers, expect these same experiences but through streamlined, digital channels.

These millennial B2B buyers are also B2C buyers, who are familiar with using digital, convenience-driven services like Deliveroo and Amazon — with expectations that more services like these are available for B2B. It comes as no surprise that this shift in behaviour, as suggested by business research specialist Forrester, predicts that over 55% of all B2B purchases will be made via e-commerce platforms by the end of this year.

We spoke to over 100 independent UK breweries and discovered that on average 76% of brewery revenue comes from direct trade — with some breweries reporting as much as 99%. With direct trade sales making up such a large proportion of their revenue, this highlights an extraordinary opportunity for forward-thinking breweries. An opportunity to get ahead of their competition by providing new and convenient digital experiences for their customers.

Typical distribution of revenue for an independent brewery. Sample size 100 independent UK breweries

Typical distribution of revenue for an independent brewery. Sample size 100 independent UK breweries

That’s why we built Sellar.

Sellar is a brewery sales platform focused on providing a new ordering experience for direct trade customers. By handling all trade orders and customers in one place, Sellar simplifies the overly complicated and time-consuming processes allowing breweries to focus on their customer relationships and producing great beer.

Sellar is about replacing the analogue sales channels, but not the relationships and touch-points that you have with your customers.

We’ve designed Sellar to increase connectivity between you and your customers to ultimately help you sell more beer, in less time.

Let me show you how we do this.

Personalised experience

Drive more sales by personalising the experience for each customer. You control which customers can see and do what on your trade ordering page. Public page viewers can see your products but must be ‘connected’ with your brewery for full access. Think of this like sending a friend request on Facebook. This gives you the opportunity to customise the pricing, products and offers for each customer. Your brewery will then show up in their suppliers' list for full access to place orders.

Speed up business with new customers

Sellar makes doing business with new customers, faster too. New customers that come onto the Sellar platform can use their account to ‘connect’ to all of their brewery suppliers. No need for them to repeatedly fill out lengthy forms or have different accounts with each supplier they order from.

Imagine you’ve discovered a local restaurant who wants to order your beer. With just a few clicks you can ‘connect’ with each other on Sellar and they are able to order from the pricing and products you allocated them. The restaurant’s contact, delivery and billing details are also shared with you so you’ve got everything you need.

A holistic solution

We originally set out to build a new ordering experience but ended up creating something much more powerful.

While working closely with a number of Sussex breweries, we realised that ‘the new trade ordering experience’ didn’t just stop after receiving a new order. We’ve had to consider and design specific functionality for handling the full, end to end experience of direct trade business.

As a result, Sellar speeds up and automates manual tasks, leaving your team with more time to focus on managing existing and forming new customer relationships.

The proof

Chris and the GTB team recognised that the way they were selling beer was archaic. Six months and hundreds of iterations later, we’ve created something that is transforming the way breweries sell their beer. GTB, amongst other amazing other Sussex breweries, have led the way in adopting ‘The new way to sell beer’ and have never looked back.

“I want all my customers to be using Sellar ASAP”

Here’s what some of their customers had to say about using Sellar:

“Very easy — I wish all breweries used this”

“Sellar makes ordering from my suppliers so much easier”

“Exactly how ordering beer should be”

Pubs, bars and restaurants don’t stop using Sellar

From January 2020, we’ve had over 700 different trade customers order from the growing number of breweries using Sellar, with over 96% re-usage rate from their first order.

If they love it, we’re confident your customers will too…

Sellar makes direct trade simple. To join the movement, please leave your details here and a member of the team will be in touch to arrange a call.