- Shelves and screens are different jobs. Most brands are better off with a specialist for each.
- Agree the lines early: who sells where, how pricing stays consistent, and who owns the data.
- Done well, the two routes feed each other rather than fight.
Two different jobs
Getting a bottle onto a back bar is a relationships business: reps, tastings, ranging decisions and the slow build of a venue list. Getting a bottle into an online basket is a data business: listings, search, advertising, pricing and stock at the right moment. They need different people, different tools and different rhythms. Expecting one distributor to be excellent at both is where a lot of brands get stuck.
So the brands we see growing fastest keep their on-trade distributor for the shelves and work with us for the screens. Two dedicated partners, one brand.
Where it goes wrong
Two distributors only cause trouble when nobody has drawn the lines. The three conversations to have early:
- Who sells where. Be explicit. Online channels, rapid delivery and your own store on one side; bars, restaurants and independents on the other. Grey areas like online specialists or grocery need a decision, not an assumption.
- How pricing stays consistent. Nothing annoys a trade customer like finding the same bottle cheaper online. Plan promotions together so neither route surprises the other.
- Who owns the data. Your listings, reviews and performance history should stay with your brand whatever happens. Make sure that's written down.
Who does what
| On-trade distributor | Shelfdrop | |
|---|---|---|
| Bars, restaurants, independents | Yes | Only for brands we import |
| Marketplaces, Vendor and Seller | Yes | |
| Online grocery | Yes | |
| Rapid delivery apps | Yes | |
| Your own web store | Yes, through FBS | |
| Specialist online retailers | Agree early | Usually Shelfdrop |
| Trade price list | Theirs | Not touched |
| Retail price online | Set from shelf data, visible to you | |
| Stock | Their warehouse | Our bonded pool |
| Reporting | Monthly, typically | Live portal |
What online tells the trade
Because every online sale carries a time, a place and a price, the screens route produces signals the trade route can use the following week. From our own tracking this autumn: searches for rum rose by about half over the summer, whisky built from mid August, and the first week of August dipped across every spirits term. A rep walking into a bar with "your category is up 48% online since June" is having a different conversation.
How the two feed each other
Online tells you things the trade can't: which product people pick when they're choosing alone, what they pay for it, where in the country they live and when they buy. That's gold for your on-trade team. A bottle that's climbing a category online is easier to range in a venue, and a bottle that's being poured in the right bars converts better when someone searches for it at home. The two routes compound when the data flows between them.
If you already have a distributor, we're used to running alongside them. We'll talk it through with you both at the start so the channels don't overlap.
What we bring to the screen side
One buy price, every online channel from one stock pool, a live portal showing every order, and a team that has run drinks brands online for years. The trade stays with the people who know it. The screens come to us. Introduce your brand and we'll give you a clear answer.