Online sales initiatives are booming among the brewers

The consumer sector has been greatly affected in this pandemic due to the Covid-19, consumer habits have changed and the sales of certain foods have also been affected by the closure of catering industry. This is the case of beer, the employers association of Cerveceros de España estimates that “the increase in sales in the distribution channel since the first measures were taken by the Covid-19 does not reach 20%”. This is seen as a problem since before the confinement the sale of the product in catering industry was 67% so the current consumption data during this pandemic does not compensate for the absence of the sale in catering industry. This is why online sales initiatives have been carried out by several brewers. 

The consumer sector has been through many phases during this health crisis. In the first phase, consumption was mainly focused on basic products, although as time went by consumption became more concentrated on fresh products. The consumer sector has gone through many phases during this health crisis. In the first phase, consumption was mainly focused on basic products, although as time went by consumption became more concentrated on fresh products. It is in this phase that beer came close to being one of the most sold products, since a large part of the population is a consumer of this product, some consulting firms estimate that sales increased by 70%. This situation has led the brewery companies to consider the possibility of going out to the online trade since it had increased its sales significantly, according to Nielsen, “the mass consumption products increased by 73.7% during the second week of confinement” for this reason there have been many producers who have bet on this model of electronic sales. 

Knowing this data, many brewers have joined the initiative of online sales. Among them: 

• Althaia Artesana, an independent artisan brewery in Altea (Alicante) that has been financed through  Fellow Funders. Apart from selling directly, they also join the initiative through their online store soloartesanas.es. In addition, they also offer a tasting pack of Artisan Althaia Beers: Blond Ale, Brown Ale and IPA 
• Cerveza Mica, the artisan brewery of Burgos, also financed by Fellow Funders, also joins the initiative through its online store cervezamica.es supporting that people stay at home and therefore have lowered considerably the minimum amount of sale and prices and including transport in them. 
• Cervezas Dougall’s, an artisan beer company from Cantabria, financed by Fellow Funders, through its soloartesanas.es store, also joins the online sales initiative by offering, in addition to all its artisan beers, a tasting pack of Cerveza Dougall’s: 942, Tres Mares, Leyenda and Raquera. 
• Cervezas La Virgen, the Madrid brewer company that released “El Birrero“, is a monthly subscription to receive your purchase directly at home, the subscription contains three different options of pack (5, 12 or 24 units). 
• On the other hand, «Barvirtualmoritz.barcelona» is an initiative of the Catalan company Cervezas Moritz, to order beer as if you were in a bar. It also has a space dedicated to music, movies, beer and even has an option to make video calls and share time with friends.
• La Salve, the Basque brewer also joins the initiative and does so through its distributors Patxi Coop, Zuvillaga and Zurrut Edariak. This company will allocate all its profits to the Bilbao Centro and Bilbaohistoriko Association. 
• In Extremadura, the brewery Cerex also distributes beers at home through its website. 

For its part, Estrella Galicia has been one of the most demanded brewers during this period of confinement, so it has also joined the initiative of online sales in order to respond to the demand of its consumers and thus also encourage people to stay at home. Although they intend to distribute to the whole territory, for the time being the brewery will only do so in Galician territory within 48h to 72h from the time of purchase. In addition to joining the initiative, the company has expressed its intention not to carry out any ERTE until at least 31 May, a fact that has been widely applauded on social networks. 

Similarly, Voldistribución, Mahou San Miguel´s distribution company, under the slogan “Stay at home. Voldis brings the bar to your home”, will also deliver to homes in the cities of Madrid, Granada and Valencia. The deliveries will arrive to the homes within 48 hours and will have no shipping costs. Orders can be requested by phone or e-mail. From the company they have said that they will destine all the benefits to Hostelería Madrid, to help the hotelkeepers. 

The IX edition of the Barcelona Beer Challenge was planned in Barcelona, where the V Barcelona Beer Challenge awards were also going to be celebrated. Due to the situation we are going through, they have had to be cancelled. Therefore, the organisers have decided that the awards should be received and celebrated equally online via Youtube Live. With this initiative, the organizers seek to give a boost to this sector so affected by the crisis. 

Sources:  Factoría de Cerveza,  El Español,  Economía Digital,  Alimarket