Buying privilege. Come on, man.

No they are not forcing anybody to do this but in order for a store to carry Bourbon County they must also carry other GI beers. I work for an AB distributor and a store had to either have GI in their regular inventory or take a shipment of GI beers so that they may get an allocation of Bourbon County.

So I can understand why a bottle shop would tie Bourbon County to GI six-packs.

 

I've never seen it at any place I buy beer, and I probably wouldn't bother , unless a GI beer was in my regular rotation to begin with. On principal I don't like it, and as a retailer they dont get enough Bcbs to really make a ton of money, if I'm a retailer I might pass. And I'd let my customers know why I didn't get a Bcbs allocation.

 

That's correct, not uncommon at all.

What galls me is how many stores allow this power balance to get so skewed. Instead of being forced to push basic GI crap no one wants, why don't stores say, "I want Rare and Regal and base this year. If I don't get them, I'll simply cut this distributor's SKUs by 30%?"

 

Distributors do not do all allocations based on retailer sales. Bourbon County is distributed to accounts that are considered 'high end' accounts and that are willing to take Goose Island beers such as IPA, 312, Honker's Ale, seasonal beers, etc. A distributor will not put a high end beer like Bourbon County in a poor neighborhood. In a poor neighborhood customers will not pay $10 for a single bottle of beer. I distribute beer in a lower/middle class area and none of my accounts received an allocation. I have accounts that will sell anywhere from 300-1000 cases of beer a week but Bud Light accounts for about 75% of my sales. So just because an account sells a lot of beer doesn't mean they will sell a lot of Bourbon County.

 

I like Goose IPA, so no problem whatsoever for me

 

Good point. Didn't mean to imply they did it blindly with out any other criteria, just that to qualify to get it the retailer has to sell a lot.

Does your operation base it on GI sales alone or include AB sales as a factor? Seems like GI sales might be a good predictor of where BCBS, etc. would sell.

 

....and the distributor will say "ok, Joe's Store down the street carries all the GI packages so he gets the majority of Bourbon County this year which he'll sell in a few hours and make a couple thousand bucks while you get none, it's a shame you had to do that my SKU's"

 

I was always under the belief this practice (Force Selling) was illegal (maybe its different by state). From what I understand, a store can not force you to buy any ALCOHOLIC product in order to gain the right to buy another product.

 

Oh absolutely. Like anything else, if this works they'll go a little farther until there is a push back. Then they'll try something a little different.

 

I guess you're supposed to be happy for getting that "Bonus Fry". (not) I don't agree with that practice either, not even creative marketing and more like a sham but as long as people are going for it, they'll keep doing it. I'd laugh and walk out.

 

Not based on GI sales alone as GI doesn't sell very well here. It's based on the overall portfolio of the account. The accounts that do well with our higher end beers will be considered first. Then these accounts will be required to take an allocation of GI beers unless they already carry GI and then we can allocate Bourbon County. Another criteria we consider is that we have some relationships with accounts that go back years. They have been good to us allowing significant shelf space, display space, allowed us to hang signs outside, new product placement, etc.

 

Of course. Short term pain. But that balance needs to be there. We have stores here that declined their BCBS allocation on principle. Amazingly, they didn't go out of business the next week. They'd built their rep on service, properly stored beer, and fair pricing. For other bars and stores, the tail wags the dogs. The buyer is slave to the vendor. Makes no sense.

 

If you're near the east bay, Bevmo in Walnut Creek (Oak Grove) still has 8 cases in stock. No limit either, you can buy it by the case if you want.

 

Might want to double check that. Be interesting to know if it is illegal anywhere. I think what we're looking at here is what's called "bundling" which isn't necessarily illegal. The only Forced Selling I've ever heard of is when the legal system forces owners of some property to sell and divide up the money.

 

Most cases that I've seen this type of deal is when the distributor made a store buy up core beers or things the distributor can't get rid of in order to buy the special release. Store ends up with way too much bad beer so they piggyback sales to get rid of it. Either that or the store just over-ordered and can't get rid of their stuff.

 

Beverage plus

lol my thoughts exactly

 

This is what l came to say! The owner of Maplewood seems to be in it for the love of beer or something, as he will talk about it all you want. Fair prices, no gimmicks - when he gets Pliny, he puts it in the frige with all the rest of their big selection. Plus, he sells singles!

 

I guess I'm lucky that my local chain sells so much GI stuff during the year that Black Friday is straight up Bourbon County. And that I can go through the line twice.