Beverage Dynamics is the largest national business magazine devoted exclusively to the needs of off-premise beverage alcohol retailers, from single liquor stores to big box chains, through coverage of the latest trends in wine, beer and spirits.
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/172332
Encouraging Trial W elton and his colleagues have come up with an interesting way to encourage trial, while also rewarding good customers, via a program called Wild Six. It started as a mixa-six-pack program to encourage trial without the commitment of a large bottle or six-pack. But while many retailers features a dusty rack of aging seasonals as a way of moving unwanted stock, Julio's beer team viewed the current ferment, so to speak, in the beer segment as encouraging a move beyond that. "We saw it not as a way to get rid of stuff, but to extend our shoppers' horizons a bit," Welton said. So they added a frequent-buyer kind of twist: a punch card where, as a particular customer accumulates mixed six-packs, he or she wins premiums such as t-shirts and key chains, until attaining a full card of 18 mixed six-packs. That earns the shopper a "hold" card that entitles him or her to reserve a coveted limited-release (or enter a lottery for it if there are more holdcard requests than items). The program thus serves to reward loyal customers while offering an equitable way to steer allocated items to deserving patrons. Like so many others in beer retail, Welton has been waiting for some time for the West Coast IPA bubble to burst, only to be continually confounded by the craze's durability. So now he's convinced it's here to stay, and says he's fine with that. That doesn't mean consumers aren't showing a greater willingness to diverge from hop monsters. Sour beers are booming, said Welton, who recalled that Cantrillon bottles that might have sat on the shelf a while three years ago are now immediately snatched up. Consumers interviewed who sometimes travel many Barrel-aged beers are doing phenomenally well, miles to shop at Julio's are uniformly blown away by the dynamic shopping experience, which some describe as a and cider has exploded in popularity. Three fulltime staffers assigned to the beer department – Disneyland for adults. all of them Cicerone-certified – insure that range of craft beers carried cold, adding three of the patrons are well taken care of in their explorations. Maloney, who's active in advocacy efforts through coolers during the latest phase of renovations. Though his board seat on the state's Restaurant and Business craft customers may have been conditioned to seeking them out on the warm shelf, the expanding array of IPAs Alliance, is working to get growlers accepted in and more delicate beers has encouraged him to tilt more Massachusetts, and is confident enough that it will hapof the mix to refrigeration, he said. By now craft beers pen that he's already mapped out a new growler bar in comprise more than half the total mix, and mainstream the place where he currently stows his kegs. beers like Corona and Bud Light no longer drive the business. Rather, they are "a convenience thing for us: if Recent Initiatives you're throwing a large party, it's here," Welton said. mong the store's more recent major initiatives has "But it's certainly not a focus for us. Our big focus is been its Internet operation, launched under the craft beer." brand the-AngelShare.com in February 2012 under for- A 22 • Beverage Dynamics • www.beveragedynamics.com • September/October 2013