Punch celebrates Buying Club milestone with gift to licensee
Tracey Harvey from the Roebuck Inn, in Brierley Hill, was awarded her average weekly order after placing the 400,000th online order on the Punch Buying Club website, which was launched in 2009.
Harvey, who has been running the Roebuck for almost seven years, said she orders from the “easy and convenient” Buying Club website a couple of times a week.
She said: “I can’t believe I’ve won. Running a pub is challenging enough, so to win back my order really is fantastic and an added bonus from Punch.”
Online majority
With around 3,150 of its licensees now registered, Punch said that the majority of orders from tenants and lessees are now made online and the site typically has 7,000 visits a week.
According to the pubco, the Buying Club is an ever-evolving project and a wealth of new features have been added in response to partner feedback.
As well as providing an online ordering portal for drinks and other products, Punch said the website now offers training and business support, and promotes a Whisky Club and a Wine of the Month Scheme.
It also provides quiz downloads, communicates via a fortnightly e-newspaper, facilitates peer-to-peer networking, and offers a creative hub where users can order site-specific menus, flyers and banners.
Meanwhile, the company has used the strength of its buying power to launch ‘Marketplace’ – a non-drinks online market place that is said to offer savings on a range of items from cheaper utilities to card processing.
June revamp
In addition, the website gives licensees access to paperless invoicing, and pub-specific i-draught and beer line cleaning data, while a revamp in June added a new machine reporting function, so that they can check the performance of their gaming machines.
James Goldsworthy, who manages the Buying Club website, said: “We see the Buying Club as a great business tool, saving time and money.
“By ordering online, users are able to browse a wider selection of drinks and promotions, as well as read a comprehensive range of guides and resources, at their convenience. It really has become a one-stop shop.”
The Punch Buying Club was awarded Best Business Initiative of the Year at the 2013 Publican Awards.
