DTC beer sales via Shopify have proven to be a gamechanger, particularly for smaller brewing companies – as it has been seen time and again that consumers value that direct relationship with the brewers and manufacturers. By selling your beers on Shopify, you can build meaningful ongoing relationships with your buyers, while cutting out the middleman entirely. But more than that, beer brands and breweries on Shopify can take advantage of all the state-of-the-art tools and apps built into the platform.
In this article we want to look in particular at the Shopify features that will help brewers and beer retailers to build powerful direct-to-consumer models through their ecommerce stores… and we’ll also look at examples of breweries who are already using the Shopify platform to dazzling effect.
Key Features for Selling Beer on Shopify
Product Subscriptions
Shopify’s subscription tools allow your customers to set automatic refills on their favourite orders. As you can imagine, this is a powerful tool for anyone selling consumable goods, but you could take it even further too: because it doesn’t have to be the same product that customers get every time. Why not start a Beer Club? Just look at brands like Beer 52, who have had massive success selling monthly beer boxes, containing a lucky dip of seller-curated brews.
Age Verification
This is a big one for anyone selling alcohol on Shopify. You will be able to install robust age verification checks into your store, ensuring that you’re only selling your beers online to customers over the age of 18 (or whatever the legal age is, where your customers are based). Shopify’s age restriction tools can be very effectively applied, as we have demonstrated in the past when we created bespoke age verified sales platforms for Leatherman, and Whitby & Co. – two brands selling knives and multitools.
Alvio
Allow us to introduce you to our friends at Alvio.
Alvio is the smart solution for easy collaborative commerce. The system allows suppliers and brands to seamlessly sync their offerings on ecommerce platforms like Shopify (as well as being cross-compatible with WooCommerce, and others). For example, you could fill a whole storefront with beers from around the world, by displaying your partners’ stock on your own ecommerce platform. Then when you make the sale, your partner fulfils the order from their end. Alternatively, if you want your beers to be seen in more places, you can make them available for partners on the Alvio network to plug into their own storefronts.
We saw a great example of collaborative commerce in action when KBE Drinks – the distributor of Kingfisher beer – partnered up with Boom Kitchen, who sell luxury cook-at-home curry kits. As a result, Boom Kitchen were able to offer curry and beer deals on their storefront, while KBE Drinks had the benefit of letting someone else market their beers for them! Partnerships like this can be an excellent way to boost your beer sales on Shopify, and Alvio makes it as easy as dragging and dropping the stock into place.
Seasonal Offers
How about offering some seasonal beer offers? An effective Shopify store is one that moves with the seasons, and thanks to the management tools Shopify provides you can easily set up a dynamic and ever-changing beer store. Perhaps you want to bring in a heavier stout in November, offer discounts on selection boxes for Black Friday, and promote your spiced ales over Christmas… then come spring, you could discount your leftover winter stock, and have an introductory promotion on a lighter hefeweizen beer perfect for the warmer months.
Shopify’s tools will allow you to finely customise and automate your store discounts, making it incredibly easy to plan and implement your coming sales. Using the Shopify Bundles app, you can create custom sets – like a Father’s Day gift box, or a selection of seasonal highlights. And all of this can be used to build customer loyalty and drive future sales too. For example, you could announce: "Get an extra 10% off this Black Friday by signing up to our newsletter”... then feed all those customer details back into future email marketing campaigns.
Easy Payments
Shopify will take all the friction out of your conversion pipeline, by making it as simple as can be for beerlovers to buy from you. Full integration of services like Apple Pay and Google Pay give customers some easy options for quick transactions. Combined with Shopify’s one-page checkout, and even the option to make purchases directly on the product page, you’re likely to start picking up more impulse buys and casual conversions (sales which the more cumbersome ecommerce apps tend to miss).
Beer Brands Already Using Shopify
You want to see how the experts sell their beers on Shopify? There are some fantastic examples to learn from, including rising star Beavertown Brewery – who back their popular on-tap offerings in pubs and bars with a comprehensive direct-to-consumer model powered by Shopify – and Wanderlust Drinks Company, home of classic international brews such as Kingfisher (India) and Sapporo (Japan).
Here are a few Shopify beer stores well worth checking out:
- Beavertown Brewery (www.beavertownbrewery.co.uk)
- JUBEL Beer (www.jubelbeer.com)
- Wanderlust Drinks Company (www.wanderlustdrinkscompany.com)
- Liberation Brewing Company (www.liberationgroup.com)
Let’s Sell Your Beers on Shopify
Here at Inspira, we have form in this industry – for example, we were proud of the work we did for Liberation Brewing Company, in the list above! We helped Liberation to build a powerful ecommerce platform selling their award-winning beers, and we would love to help you get set up with the perfect Shopify store for your brewery too.
Why not get in touch and let us know about your business needs? We’ll be glad to help you brainstorm an ecommerce plan that gives your online beer shop access to all the powerful tools in the Shopify arsenal. Just contact us today to arrange an obligation-free chat with one of our ecommerce experts.
