Page 29 - Beverage Master February March 2020

Craft Beverage

Understanding the
Craft Beer Sales Channel

When it comes to connecting with end consum-
ers, craft beer producers have four options:

• On-Site: Selling directly to consumers at your
brewery.

• E-Commerce: Selling directly to consumers
online.

• Retail: Selling to consumers through other
retailers.

• On-Premise: Selling to consumers through bars
and restaurants.

However, on-site sales are limited by geography
and e-commerce sales require brand familiarity or
extremely creative (or very expensive) marketing.
For a scalable sales and marketing strategy, craft
beer producers have to turn their attention to
retail and on-premise sales and the indirect sales-
force that helps them achieve penetration with
these vendors.

Incentivizing Distributor and
Wholesaler Sales Reps

Outside of smaller, highly localized brewer-
ies, most craft beer producers rely on distribu-
tors, wholesalers and other supply chain trading
partners to market to retailers and restaurants.
Distributor and wholesaler sales reps are respon-
sible for selling vendors on the value of your beer,
negotiating pricing and terms of sale agreements
and ultimately getting your craft beer to market.

There’s one small problem: no matter how awe-
some your craft beer is, it only a small fraction of
your distributor or wholesaler’s supply mix. In this
battle for mindshare, it’s up to you to educate reps
about your brand, enable them to sell your prod-
uct and supply them with a value proposition that
inspires them to take action on your account.

This is where an incentive program comes
into play. When many people think of incentive
programs, they think about rewards. But while
rewards play a big role in building relationships
with your channel partners and adding to your

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