Brands for every occasion

As consumers become more brand aware, making sure your bar stocks the right products is important.

Having the right brand range for every occasion will ensure that your consumer's overall drinking experience is met with the optional range of brands.

With consumers becoming ever more brand conscious, so their expectations of drinking their favourite brands within your bar will increasingly become a part of their decision making process on which bars to go to.

As a retailer you only have a finite amount of space, so being able to utilise your bar top, your chillers and your back-bar area to maximise overall sales and profitability is a key part of developing your business.

With the number of product categories growing all the time, there is a very real danger that without a clear policy of removing or de-listing those products with low rates of sale, or low profitability you will be in danger of running a business characterised by too much choice and too much clutter.

Research carried out by the Henley Centre clearly points to the fact that too much choice for a consumer is negative. Approximately 17 per cent of consumers are influenced in their choice of drink by the range on offer. Having the right range in terms of category and brand mix can improve profits and turnover by ensuring optimum productivity, throughput and stock management.

The challenge to help you cut the clutter, provide brands that consumers really want, when they want them, and in an optimal condition will be addressed in this article.

The beer category still accounts for a massive 66 per cent of on-trade volume, and yet if you take a good look at your bar are you providing it with 66 per cent of your space, and promotional focus?

Conducting a range review​

Ideally you should be planning to review the range of brands that you sell every six months.

This will ensure that you can account for new products that have been developed for the market.

While removing those products that are slow sellers, or marking you very little cash margin.

• Identify the consumer profile and main occasions of your pub.
• Analyse your throughputs (rates of sale), and the cash margin for all of your bands
• Work out your product profitability. Rate of sale versus cash margin.
• Rank each of your brands in terms of their profitability (see chart left)
• Identify products not stocked, but are performing well in the market, in your competitors outlets - propose stocking them in your business.
• Identify those products not performing well with, no point of difference, propose de-list.
• Ensure your stock the market leading brands, ie Carling and Worthington
• Review your chillers - Coors Brewers recommend that you stock no more than 12 lines in each chiller.
• If you need to provide beer in quieter bars, think about dummy fonts to inform consumers which brands you sell.

Range management for beer has significant benefits to you and your consumers​

• Fewer brands removes clutter and makes it easier for consumers to find what they like
• Less cash flow tied up in slow moving stock
• Less wastage
• Improved quality of beer, as a result of higher throughputs
• Brand rationalisation in chillers allowing continual chilled product availability
• New products bought into your business fast
• Greater profit to your business.

For more information please contact Neale Lewis 07808 096166.

Four key areas​

The beer category falls into four key areas that are easily recognised by consumers:

• Lagers (draught)
• Ales (draught)
• Stouts (draught)
• Packaged Beers

Draught beers​

Draught beer accounts for 64 per cent of value in the on-trade.

Source: AC Nielson ​On-trade Draught + Packaged GB Jan 2002​

Providing the right balance of market leading brands, and allocating space on your bar that reflects the mix of brands detailed above is key to range management.

Essentially focus your range around lager. Mainstream lager is 35 per cent of all beer volume and growing.